Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
good morning chair we have 16 people in attendance in the virtual audience 16 okay we can start
when you're ready good morning everyone
good morning everyone my name is bill bergman and i will be chairing this morning's meeting
of the philadelphia zoning board with me is our vice chair tenetta graham president mr chairman
board member michael johns present mr chairman tye wing you should be walking through the
to the enrollment and Ryan McAdams, what are we going to do?
Pardon me?
Pardon me?
Not me.
Not me.
Not me.
Test instinct here, sounds a little better.
Also with me is our attorney, Lam, we've got something wrong here.
Hello?
Hello?
Hello?
I can hear you online and I don't know testing testing we're okay
okay we're going to start over again is there no
Remember Johns, could you mute yourself for a moment?
I was mute.
I was muted.
Thank you.
testing okay okay we'll start with me is our vice chair tenetta graham president mr chairman board
member michael johns president mr chairman board member ty win she should be here any minute and
board member ryan mcadams president also here is our attorney lynn reuter uber our zba director
ian haggerty and our board administrator lakesha dandy this hearing is being recorded and will be
posted on the zba website are participating am i getting back throughout there
all right by participating you agree to be recorded this is an in-person meeting with
remote participation whether in person or on zoom if you're called to speak please state
and spell your name, wait to be sworn in, and then after that, each time you testify,
please state your name. To enter an appearance, indicate the property address on the Zoom webinar,
speak with a staff member,
call the ZBA office by the close of business tomorrow,
um call 215-686-2429 and provide them with your name email and the address of the case
remote participation raise your virtual hand when directed when we call upon you make sure that you
You click join as a panelist button.
Use the Q&A only for procedural questions and not for case comments.
If you're joining by phone, press star nine to raise your hand and star six to unmute
in person.
If testifying, get close to the microphone so that all attendees and the court reporter
can hear you.
No talking, eating or drinking during the hearings.
aggressive behavior will not be tolerated in a case of emergency follow the instructions of the
staff um the the main exit is the double doors at the rear and there is a stairwell to the left
in the event of evacuation go to love park which is directly across the street
and wait there so that we can account for you
let's look at our schedule for the for today
number two mi 2025 000 685 1192 waldemere street waldemere drive
Vern Anastasio is the attorney. Mr. Anastasio.
Good morning. This is Doreen, and I will be co-hosting the morning sessions.
Vern Anastasio has been promoted.
Good morning, Mr. Chair.
Good morning, counsel. Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Yep, Vern Anastasio, A-N-A-S-T-A-S-I-O, on behalf of Mr. Farouk El-Hadi.
All right, do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Could you give us an update on this case?
Yes, we've had a full hearing, Mr. Chair, and we mentioned some additional evidence,
and the board gave us this date to return as a resumption.
The evidence that I wanted to submit, which was video evidence, we've determined should not be part of the record, but I did want an opportunity to return to the board with a revised plan that would bring the number of units down a bit.
So as a result, we're not prepared to go forward today on the resumption.
Okay, so MI-2025-000-685-1190, Woldermere Drive.
This case is continued to 12-16-2026 at 9.30.
Thank you.
Vern, I have one more here for you.
Yes, sir.
So, number three, MI-2025-002-161-1653.
0-0-2-1-6-1-16-53-South-23rd Street.
Where do you stand with that?
This is, I believe, only the second listing.
I had just met with the RCO just a few weeks ago because we had a difficult time getting a place.
And I just have not been able – my client is out of the country.
I just have not been able to connect with him and get some revisions to the plan.
so 1653 south 23rd street that case is continued to 12 16 2026 at 9 30 a.m thank you
number six mi 2026 000 720 6837 large street we want the uh appellant on to continue this
Council? Yes. Could Tracy Wright come on?
Tracy Wright has been promoted.
Looks like Tracy Wright has declined.
I'll try her again. Thank you.
she should be coming in now okay
hi good morning this is good morning could you please say your name and spell for the
photographer uh good morning my name is tracy wright a c e y w r i g h t do you swear or firm
to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes sir i do i don't believe we have all
the documents am i correct we don't have all your documents and we're going to have to continue the
case uh i her posting is incorrect she did not provide the proper posting for this year your
Your posting is not correct. That's a wrong date. Am I correct? Correct. There's a wrong date on your post. So I did not receive and I have an email. ZBA sent me an incorrect document and I did respond back to them, letting them know. And they advised me, I can give you the date that I sent that in. It has someone else's name attached to it. So I printed me. Okay.
okay but listen we we cannot go on with the the way it is and this case of where you live at 68
37 large street this is going to be continued to 12 16 2026 at 9 30 a.m okay
yes sir thank you have a good day
Number 9, MI 2026, 000725, 2452 West Toronto Street, Toronto Street, that is continued
until 12, 16, 2026.
number 12 m mr chairman at 9 30 at 9 30 a.m sure yeah um number 12 mi 2026 000 831
4901 miram miram road that case has been withdrawn and number 15 mi 2026
6-0-0-0-8-4-5-5-2-4 Longshore Road. That case isn't withdrawn.
And number 15, MI 2026-001-500-5014 Soul Street. We have no exhibits. Benjamin Justice
the is the listed owner. Do we see anyone? No chair, I don't see anyone with a hand up. Okay,
so MI 2026 001 500 5014 Sol Street. That case is continued to 1216 2026 and Mark must be heard.
Are there any other requests for continuance?
Are there any other requests for continuance?
I do have a hand up from Daniel Loza.
The hand went back down.
I'm looking for him.
Daniel Loza.
Daniel Loza has been promoted. All right.
Yeah, he probably got ready to roll. Counsel?
Yes, I'm here. Good morning, sir. Could you state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Yes, my name is Daniel Gustavo Loza. Could you spell it, please?
the a d-a-n-i-e-l losa l-o-z and zebra a right do you swear referring to tell the truth told
truth nothing but the truth yes sir counsel you you know i called for continuances do you want
to continue your case no no no we we are waiting for a tour all right so your case one but i still
have an add-on case to do okay yes sir all right so why don't you just wait a little bit okay yeah
thank you so much all right okay MI 2024 006 132 4732 to 42 North Broad Street
i vote yes this thing would proviso approved uses in the assembly and entertainment
subcategory are one movie theaters and two um nightclub and um public entertainment
it than you. Michael Johns, my vote is yes with provisos. Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes with
provisos. Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes with provisos. Ty Owen, my vote is yes with provisos.
Any other requests for continuance? So we're going to move to number one. No hands. Okay,
Number one is MI-2025-000-391-3449-8th Street.
We also have a Spanish interpreter.
The Spanish interpreter has been promoted.
good morning good morning sir try your volume your volume's a little low okay hold on
can you hear me better now i i heard you better now right perfect please state your name and
spelled for the sonographer yes your honor my name is leonel gillen spelled as in l-e-o-n-e-l
gillen spelled g-u-i-l-l-e-n do you swear or affirm that you will interpret accurately
completely and partially from english to spanish and from spanish to english to the best of your
ability. I swear.
The council has already been on, is on
Daniel Lozaz, is on, and also
could you, property is owned by
Investment LLC, this is a
resumptive hearing? Yes.
Muy bien, entonces la propiedad es, la propiedad, los dueños de la propiedad es Investment LLC, este es una audiencia repetitiva.
los de la propiedad cuyos dueños son investment l lc
el nombre de complete name is f a properties investment l lc
thank you ok los propietarios de la compañía de f a properties investment llc están presentes
¿Están presentes?
Los propietarios de la propiedad FAProperties Investment LLC ¿Están presentes?
Hold on, they said they're gonna be here. I don't know what's going on.
do you have a name of a person i'm trying to get them on the phone oh okay thank you
they said that they're connected but i don't see them here
mr chairman last time it was an alpha polanco polanco hello hi i just promoted alpha polanco
oh that's probably one
Buenos días, ¿sí me escucha?
Buenos días.
¿Puedes preguntarle a su nombre y a su nombre?
Sí, solo le diré al intérprete.
a l f a polanco p o l a n c o yes my name is alfa polanco spelled as in a l f a
polanco spelled as in p o l a n c o do you swear or affirm to tell the truth
Usted jura y afirma decir la verdad?
Sí, juro.
¿Toda la verdad y nada más que la verdad?
Sí, señor.
Sí, señor.
Sí, señor.
Counselor, ¿podrías, esta es una audiencia repetitiva, ¿podrías darnos una audiencia de dónde estás?
Ok, el consejo, por favor, abogado, esta es una audiencia repetitiva, ¿puede decirnos en qué estamos, en qué, dónde estamos ubicados?
okay se lo digo en español do you want me to say it in spanish i don't care i want you to
say it in english and then okay so far we have a we have to establish three meetings with the rco
hasta el momento tenemos que establecer una reunión con el rc o the first one was on march
twenty twenty twenty five that the RCO schedule and cancel.
Muy bien, entonces, han sido tres reuniones. La primera fue en marzo veinte del dos mil veinticinco, la cual la RCO agendó y luego canceló.
The second one, April 17, 2025, in which we didn't have enough people, neighbors, to show up to the meeting.
And there is a caveat here, because most of the neighbors are tenant.
It's an area we're staying occupied, so it's difficult to bring them into the RCO meeting, right?
Permítame.
ok, la segunda reunión fue abril 17
2025, en donde no teníamos
suficientes personas, no teníamos suficientes vecinos
que se presentaran a la reunión
y aquí había una condición, había un asunto
acá, ¿verdad? y es que la mayoría
de los vecinos acá son
son propietarios
en esta área con 10
en esta área que son de 10 ocupantes, ¿verdad?
So, it's very difficult to bring them to the RCO meetings.
The last one was May 5th, 2025, in which we were able to bring 25 neighbors,
but then the RCO lacked a quorum of their board in order to issue a recommendation.
So, let me say this.
one of the reasons you had to come back was was basically two things right we needed a tax
clearance and we now have that and we have proof of posting that you posted the property yes sir
is that correct that's correct all right so questions from the board
um yeah so one of the questions we had last time was we didn't see evidence of the second unit
one of the questions
that the committee had the last time
is that we didn't have evidence of the second unit
I wonder
I wonder, can you see my share screen?
can you see my share screen
Puedes ver mi pantalla que estoy compartiendo?
I'm asking the board.
Yes, yes.
Sí, sí podemos ver.
Ok, so let me go down and see if I can show you some pictures of the second floor.
Ok, vamos a ver si puedo mostrar unas fotografías del segundo piso.
so on the lower right side you see the access looking from the main door into the apartment
and those are the steps going to the second floor unit ok entonces en el en la parte inferior
derecha se puede ver el acceso estamos viendo acá de estás viendo desde la entrada principal de la
puerta principal al apartamento y esas gradas van al segundo piso donde está la segunda unidad
next door next you will see the pictures y después van a ver ahora van a ver las fotografías desde
kitchen the bedroom there is an extra closet in case we need to put utilities there is
ahí está ubicado así hay una cocina hay un cuarto e inclusive hay un hay un armario adicional por
And then you can see pictures of the bathroom, the shower, these are pictures of that section.
And this is a little messy, that's the other area where the people were working.
Y este es un poquito desarreglado, pero este es el otro área donde las personas estaban trabajando.
¿Ese es el primer piso que estamos viendo hoy?
Correcto.
Y ese es el patio trasero que se tiene que limpiar.
¿Y dónde se está almacenando la basura para ambas unidades?
So that I had to go to the front.
Aquí tengo que ir al frente.
On the, pues, 3449, on this area, that corner is going to go the trash in this area.
Ok, en esta área de acá, donde dice 3449, en esta área de acá, en esta esquina, es donde va la basura.
If you see where the toilet is here on the picture, that's where the two trash cans go.
Okay, so both units are storing trash on the outside of the unit.
The trash cans are going to be outside, yes.
Who has access to the rear yard?
¿Quién tiene acceso al jardín trasero? Es decir, ¿tiene que pasar a través de una habitación o no?
No, no, no. That's the first floor apartment. So the first floor apartment has access to the rear yard, has access to the basement.
and on the first floor in the rear there is like an extra room that can be used like a laundry
and they have access to the rear yard and also there is a door which is I think the middle door
here in the picture where has access to the basement. Okay, ese es el primer piso del
apartamento entonces el apartamento del
primer piso tiene acceso al patio
trasero y también y tiene y tiene
acceso al sótano entonces en el primer
piso en la parte de atrás hay como una
habitación adicional que puede ser
utilizado como lavandería y ellos tienen
acceso también a la al patio trasero y
también hay una puerta ahí que que que
creo que pasa por creo que la puerta del
centro de acá y aquí en esta fotografía que tiene acceso al sótano
outline
what the plan is for the trash well there are not many neighbors on that block that store their
trash in that area and the few that do seem to have a metal like a metal page that they applied
to the front of the house to protect it is that your intent permita momentito ok cuál es el plan
Okay, I know you can see the area in front of the house, and I'm seeing the block that there is...
the area in front of the house, and I'm seeing the block, there are many neighbors in that
area that are storing the garbage in that area. Now, there are many that have a metal
box that they apply in front of the house to protect it. Is it your intention? Are you going to put
We're going to put like a fence, so the trash can be between the wall and the fence.
What is the plan for the second floor unit to have access to the utilities in case of servicing or an emergency?
Muy bien. Y la segunda pregunta es la misma pregunta que la que la que hice la vez pasada. Es mi entendimiento de que usted va a dividir esto en dos unidades. La primera unidad tiene es el único que tiene acceso al sótano. ¿Cuál es el plan para la unidad del segundo piso para tener acceso a todas las a todas las utilidades que tienen en caso de servicios de emergencia o cosas así?
okay two things on that so each unit has their own electrical panel on their unit so the third floor
has an electrical panel on the third floor and the second floor has their own electrical panel
on the second floor then the the all the heating system is electrical so there is no need for the
heater to go in the basement okay the only thing that is on the basement are both hot water heaters
Permítanme.
son esos son eléctricos así que no hay necesidad para que vaya un calentador adicional en el
sótano lo único es de que el sótano en el sótano están los dos calentadores de agua y obviamente
están con candado porque son calentadores de agua yeah and then on the second floor like i explained
you before that is a dedicated closet that we left it for utility purposes so we need to put
the hot water heater from the second unit on that utility closet on the second floor
we will move it there the reason we have it on the basement is because in case there is an
emergency or a flooding it doesn't destroy both apartments but if the the the zoning board
consider that there is a need
to ask to move the hot water heater
to the second floor, we will do that.
Ok, y en el segundo piso
como había explicado anteriormente
hay un closet específico
que dejamos ahí para
para el propósito
de colocar utilidades ahí.
Entonces, lo que nosotros hacemos
es que nosotros necesitamos poner
el calentador
de agua de la segunda unidad
en esa
en ese clóset de utilidades, en el segundo piso, y lo vamos a mover ahí.
La razón por la que tenemos en el sótano es porque en el caso de una emergencia,
si hay una inundación, no destruye los dos apartamentos.
Pero si la junta de zonificación considera que necesitamos mover
los calentadores de agua al segundo piso, lo vamos a hacer.
Gracias.
okay um well one we wouldn't dictate where the hot water heater goes i just wanted to make sure
that there was a plan in place there is a plan depends on what we need to do we will leave that
that area there just to and then the second question i have is you mentioned that the heat
was electric but is the kitchen also all electric like is the unit all electric okay or will there
be gas service at the unit.
Ok, now my question is, you mentioned that the heating is also electric, but the kitchen is also electric?
Ok, now my question is, you mentioned that...
That is to say, all the units, all the pieces are electric or will there be a gas service in the unit?
That's correct, everything is electric, the range, the heaters, everything is electric, there is no gas whatsoever, even the hot water heaters are electrical.
Okay, that's correct. Everything is electric.
The part of the calefaction, all the connections,
everything is electric.
There is no gas for anything.
So, even the hot water,
the calefaction of the hot water are electric.
Okay, other questions from the board?
More questions from our attorney.
More questions from our attorney.
no questions at this time questions from the virtual audience preguntas o
comentarios de la de la audiencia virtual no hay manos levantadas comisión de planificación
buenos días juntas y buenos días con la junta para todos soy jonathan
and goings de la de la comisión de planificación do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole
truth nothing but the truth yes i do please proceed thank you uh the comprehensive plan
recommends no change to the rsa 5 residential single family zoning at this location the city
changed the zoning in 1973 consistent with the character of the block then and now therefore the
City Planning Commission recommends the board deny the proposed use variance for 2-12 minutes.
MI 2025, 000-391-3449-8th Street.
Oh, Mr. Chairman, he needs to interpret.
Muy bien, thank you. Muy bien. Entonces, el plan comprensivo recomienda que no se haga ningún cambio en el RCA 5.
residencial de de zonificación para uso de en cuanto a la zonificación para uso
de una sola familia en esta ubicación la ciudad cambió la regulación de
zonificación en 1973 y es consistente con la apariencia del del bloque de la
cuadra de cómo era en aquel tiempo y cómo se ve ahora entonces la comisión de
planificación de la ciudad, recomienda a la Junta que rechace cualquier propósito, cualquier
varianza que se haga esto, que se haga en este momento.
All right, continue, please.
Excuse me, can I say a comment real quick?
Puedo hacer un comentario bien rapidito, por favor.
If you look on the pictures that I put on the share screen, you will see that's the corner
house, which also has been converted to a two-family dwelling.
this is the exact corner of a we understand that we understand okay si no si estaba haciendo la
fotografía acá que esta es la casa de esquina que también se fue convertido en que esto fue convertido
pues en una casa de una vivienda de dos de dos familias también es exactamente eso es en la
tiza de corner right i just said to you sir i understand that si lo tenemos lo tenemos
I vote yes with proviso, trash stored inside, no household living in basement.
Muy bien, yo voto sí con condición de que la basura sea almacenada en la parte de adentro, en el sótano.
my vote is yes with proviso the netagram b voto así con la condición
ryan mcadams my vote is yes with proviso ryan mccann's voto sí con la provisión
yo voto sí con las condiciones thank you counsel thank you so much
interpreter i think do you have the next one too i believe so you're on okay good uh no sorry chair
uh we have a actually a second interpreter for the upcoming case thank you sorry about that
okay all right and it feels good interpreter please for him thank you for your help by the
way pleasure mi2026 000 730 126 west westmoreland street hello my name is steven i'll be the
Hello, my name is Steven. I'll be the Spanish interpreter. My name is spelled S-T-E-V-E-N, last name A-U-B-A-I-N-I-D-Y-M-288.
Spanish interpreter. My name is spelled S-T-E-V.
Do you swear, Fern, that you will interpret accurately, completely, and impartially from English to Spanish and from Spanish to English to the best of your ability?
Yes, I do.
We would like to have the individual state his name and spell for the court.
So, my name is Manuel Díaz.
Get that little closer to him, please.
Yes, my name is Manuel Díaz.
M-A-N-U-E-L-D-I-A-Z
So it's Manuel Diaz, M-A-N-U-E-L-D-I-A-Z
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth?
The whole truth and nothing but the truth.
Y toda la verdad, nada más que la verdad.
Así que nuestra copresidenta tiene preguntas para usted.
Y bueno, usted ha sometido sus documentos y evidencia cinco días de antemano de esta audiencia.
y usted está aquí porque quiere tener cinco viviendas en su unidad está en esa estructura
eso correcto
y se lo negaron porque el tamaño del lote no es comparable al código eso correcto
it's real technical i'll just try to sum i just try to summarize it for you but you can't yeah
that's why you're here you have you've been refused for doing that um for your four units
all right so you can just tell us what you're trying to do and and explain your pictures and
stuff to us well hold on do we have anything on the computer for him and he had requested
staff assistance yeah yes it's currently sharing chair okay all right good we're up there yep
yeah thank you um would you please him if he would please start his presentation
of what's on the screen and what he wants to do okay so why don't you tell him the story
así que ya puede empezar con su presentación nos puede explicar lo que está en la pantalla
las imágenes que trajo
Si, ah, esta propiedad es en el 1-26 Westmoreland Street, este, quise hacer cuatro unidades, para son cuatro estudios.
Y todo está capacitado, tiene su panel eléctrico y los giras son eléctricos.
Permítame. So, this is a property in 126 West Marlan Street. We're looking to put in
four units studio apartments. Each has the capability to do so. They have electric panels,
they have um electric heater and access to the trash in the back
is this did he already do it has he already done it this is a legalization
Okay, so why don't we go through the photos and now you're going through the photos, could
he please tell us what we're seeing?
Así que vamos a repasar las fotos ahora
y en lo que las repasamos nos deja saber lo que estamos viendo.
Están en la cadera hacia el segundo piso.
This is stairs to the second floor.
Ese es el baño.
That's the bathroom.
On the second floor.
And it...
El panel del segundo piso.
the electric panel for the second floor.
The electric panel for the second floor.
Es en la habitación del segundo piso.
One of the bedrooms of the second floor.
Could he tell us how many units are on the second floor?
Are there two on the first, second floor and first floor, two on the first floor?
Exacto.
Así que son dos unidades en el primer piso y dos unidades en el segundo piso.
Correcto.
That's correct.
Could you please show us how those units are separated?
¿Nos puede enseñar cómo esas unidades están separadas?
Este es el primer piso.
This is the first floor.
La parte de atrás.
In the back.
Cada uno tiene su contador.
Each one of them has the meter.
does he have the other photos and you tienen alguna otra foto
so there's one entrance to the building my crack
así que solamente hay una entrada para el edificio
that's correct right and then you go inside what tell me what happens on the first floor
Y usted entra para adentro. ¿Qué sucede en el primer piso?
Aquí está la entrada donde está el panel de las alarmas de fuego.
Y a la mano izquierda, en la puerta izquierda, ese es un estudio.
Y a la mano derecha está el otro.
Y la puerta de entrada para el segundo piso.
So, as you come in, you can see the fire alarm panel.
And then on the left-hand side, that is one studio.
on the right hand side there is another studio and then there is the front door to the second
unit right and it's the second floor the same thing you go left there's one unit and right
another unit that's correct um that accounts for four units where's the fifth unit
is there any basement use for the property or in the rear yard, sorry, basement and rear yard use for the property?
Yes, the basement is the boiler of water and hot water, or hot water, or hot water,
And in the yard, in the back, it's for the trash, it's open, I leave it open, the gate
to put the trash in the trash that are there.
So yes, on the basement, or in the basement, there's the boiler, or the water cleaner,
and then for the yard, that's where the trash is, so we leave the gate open so they could
have open access to the trash.
do any of the units have direct access to the rear yard or the basement
y hay alguna de las unidades que tiene acceso directo a este la yarda atrás o el sótano
No, los cuatro tienen acceso a la yarda para poner la basura en los zapagones.
El basement, algunos tienen llaves, pero no todos.
The interpreter for clarification, ¿algunos tienen qué?
El basement es para yo entrar y chequear cómo van las cosas diario.
So, for the yard and for the trash, everyone has access to it.
but for the basement it's just for me to have access to check on the boiler.
Okay, and then do you have floor plans that show the first and second floor unit layouts?
Go ahead. I was going to say in your drawing set.
¿Y usted tiene algún plano de esta vivienda, del primer y segundo piso, de estas unidades?
sorry this is the and i don't have those in any of the submitted drawings though this is a change
of use application so we're going to be part of the zoning permanent drawings así que este no
tengo estos planos sometidos porque como esto un cambio de solicitud este y no un cambio de permiso
so you did this work or this building was like that when you purchased it
So, did you do these arreglos to the house or to the house?
Así que, ¿usted hizo estos arreglos a la vivienda o esto vino así cuando usted la compró?
Ya estaban así. Yo los arreglé un poco, pero estaban así.
So, it was like that. I fixed it up a little bit, but it came like that.
So, you said you have floor plans. I know they're not required to be submitted, but you have floor plans.
Así que usted tiene planos de la vivienda, no fueron requeridos para someter, pero usted los tiene.
Sería bueno poder verlos porque estos son solamente retratos, pero sería bueno ver los planos si los tiene.
but we don't know
was any of the work done with permits that you did
So I didn't buy myself because a lot of the work that I did didn't require.
um too much uh um things to do so i i did it myself
did you put the fire system in who put the fire system in
so it's still in the process of being installed
within this week is when i will receive the certificate of it being installed
okay any other questions was there a certificate of occupancy for this
building wait wait i i i don't think there's a certificate of occupancy you'd have to get one
okay all right all the questions
i brought the wrong ones questions from our attorney yes hi i'm lynn reidel hubert board
council i just wanted to clarify i believe you introduced yourself as manuel diaz
así que este me llamo lynn reidel y yo soy una representante de la junta y quería clarificar
porque yo creo que usted se introdujo como Manuel Díaz y en este el contrato este dice
que él en el contrato de esta vivienda dice que es Daniel Díaz quien este D A N I E E L Díaz
so um that is correct that's my brother's name and he left me the property years ago he said
to use it to fix it and that he passed it over to me
Okay. I got it. I got it. Okay. Um, so, uh, we, we can't, we, we, we can't do this today. Um, I, I, give, give us a process. What he has to do.
Settle it. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Settle the state and things of that nature.
Well, I'm not sure if there's an estate. I obviously can't give you legal advice, but you're going to have to figure out if your brother had an estate.
you need to get the deed in your name in some fashion so you're going to need to seek potentially
legal assistance i mean there's community legal services there's you can go to the court there
are you know there is an office there to provide you with some legal assistance but you need to
have the deed in your name so that you're the actual owner of the property in order to go forward
with the zoning all right let the interpreter start oh allow me please um así que usted va
Así que usted va a necesitar quizás asistencia legal o quizás algún servicio legal comunitario y tuviera que ir quizás para corte o para que le puedan proveer asistencia legal.
necesitar quizás asistencia legal
Pero usted necesita tener esta vivienda bajo su nombre para que usted sea el dueño actual de la propiedad para poder proceder con la zonificación.
De acuerdo.
all right so we can't give this a day right you know he'll just have to contact the office
what he's built así que este ya tan cuando esto esté disponible usted contactaría a la oficina
we'll do a resumption okay when we hear from
correct all right thank you sir sorry about your
interpreter thank you very all right do you require any other interpretation um no that's
our second one for the day we appreciate it all right no problem thank you for using the service
disinterpreter disconnecting number five mi mi 2026 000 641 905 south 9th street michael gumbel is the attorney
michael gumbel should be coming in as a panelist thank you very much
uh good morning mr chairman members of the board good morning could you please state your name and
spell it for the stenographer. Sure. Mike Gumbel, last name is G-U-M-B-E-L.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
I do. Counsel, could you identify your client in relationship to this property?
My client is Janet Steckman, and I actually have her sitting next to me
in my office today, and she is the owner of 905. Very good. And our vice chair has just a few
questions good morning morning submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of
this hearing yes and do you waive the read another refusal and stipulate to its accuracy
yes all right thank you you can share your screen and proceed with your case thank you
okay so this property is 905 south 9th street it's located in the italian market in between
Washington and Christian Streets. This is actually a reapplication for a visitor
accommodations license. We came in front of the board several years ago and a
three-year proviso was given and so since that is some setting we are back
to seek an additional term on that. So first we have the refusal itself and
You'll see that the original license was granted back in 2023 for the visitor accommodations
We're not seeking any changes here
The first floor is a commercial unit and then the second floor is a bi-level apartment
And so it's keeping the commercial on the first floor and just again re-upping the visitor accommodations in the second floor apartment
Which is just a single apartment
going through we have all of the necessary exhibits we have all your
documents sir I'm just going to get down to brass tacks proof of posting of the
notice of meeting back on July 7th here's a picture of the front of the
property with the commercial unit on the left-hand side and then you'll see the
entrance to the apartment itself is on the right-hand side so Janet has been
operating this building or this apartment rather as an Airbnb for
several years prior to the change in the law a few years ago they have been
operating it for about three or four years before that. Then when the law
changed we went through the necessary steps to legalize it and as said earlier
we're now at the reapplication process. So here's just a picture of their
listing showing that they have excellent ratings.
and then we have pictures of the internal unit itself you got to slow that down
so as you can see it's a well-kept unit
second to third floor is one unit yes okay and it's two bedrooms yes two bedrooms
good on the pictures yep okay
Below that, we sent out the RCO notices back in March, and we have the proof of mailings
attached to that.
We then met with Bellavista Neighbors Association in April 2026.
They granted a letter of non-opposition.
I would also point out the highlighted section here that they did request longer than an additional three-year proviso due to the burden of having to constantly reapply for this every few years.
I believe that the board is continuing to do the three years, but nevertheless, they did make a recommendation that it is burdensome on the owners and if they could be extended out for a few years beyond that.
so why don't you bring your client on and have your testimony adopted sure
good morning good morning could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
janet steckman j-a-n-e-t-s-t-e-c-h-m-a-n do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth yes i do counsel miss steckman have you heard the testimony that i
given to the board today yes i have it has everything i've said been true and correct to
the best of your knowledge and belief yes it is and you adopt it as your own testimony today
yes i did thank you questions on the board do you have a photo that shows the interior stair
in the sec between the second and the third floor i didn't see it in any show but i see it you did
it was there's one there show the the stairs again okay one second please
that was one of my mine uh so that's the if you see here um this is the stairwell coming up from
the first floor and then this is the stairwell up to the second floor bedrooms okay and then
i'm sorry the third floor bedrooms did you show us a photo of the entry to the stairwell from the
street yeah it's just this front door see if there's an internal one so you
can see over on the left of this picture on page 29 the star I understand where
it is in the unit I want to know where it is from the street yes so if you go
back it's on the right hand side so the commercial property is on the left hand
side and then this is a fully separate entrance to the apartment question other
questions I actually do you so this since this is an Airbnb unit how close
is the manager of the property so she actually owns Anastasi's seafood market
which is a couple doors down and she lives on Federal Street so she's in the
market every day okay and is she personally managing this or is she
using a management company she personally manages it okay all the questions questions
from our attorney no questions at this time questions or comments from the virtual audience
there are no hands wait excuse me chair verna anastasio has a hand up
burn good morning mr chair i take it this case here i should not refer to you as counsel but as
mr anastasio do you know comments you could do either sir i'm actually here uh representing the
immediate adjacent property owners and occupants my parents who have lived next to this property
as an airbnb and a short-term rental for several years and they and i fully support the granting
of this variance uh well thank you very much for taking that time i think i want to see you this
afternoon again am i right yes sir all right all right thank you thank you um anyone else in the
virtual audience there are no more hands planning commission donovan go
there are no more hands planning commission donathan goins planning commission staff the
comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing cmx2 commercial mixed use zoning at
this location the appellant has not shown that the property cannot be used in strict conformity with
the zoning code that a variance is therefore necessary to enable the viable economic use
of the property the city planning commission recommends the zoning board to not variance
MI 2026-000-641-905-South 9th Street, I vote yes with proviso. Use limited to second and third floor. Temporary variance that expires August 1st, 2030.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes with proviso.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes with proviso.
Mike Adams, my vote is yes with proviso.
hi owen my vote is yes survival thank you thank you very much
number four mi2025-006-851-5375
umbria street leonard
mr chairman are we skipping um 14. i will get back to it okay
good evening everyone good morning
I'm ready when you are, Mr. Chairman.
Good morning. Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Yes, my name is Leonard Altieri, A-L-T-I-E-R-I, with the law firm of Claire Harrison Harvey Brandsburg here in Center City, Philadelphia.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client in relationship to the property?
The client is Capital Cities Broadcasting Corporation, which is the owner of the property.
And our vice chair has a few questions.
Good morning. Have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
I have, with the exception of a earth disturbance plan, which was supplemented this morning.
Got it. And do you waive the reading of the issues or also stipulate to their accuracy?
Okay, thank you. You can show your screen and proceed with the case.
Thank you very much. So everybody can see my screen, I believe. So again, excuse me, this property is 5375 Umbria Street.
What this is, is currently it is the location for the backup broadcasting for 6ABC News.
As you see on the screen here, there's multiple buildings located within the property itself.
It's a pretty large parcel. But what we're speaking about specifically is just this very small building right here where my cursor is located.
The applicant is proposing to do a complete demolition of the existing structure and in its place, the reconstruction of the exact same building to be used in the exact same use, which is a wireless service facility.
The building is, again, going to be an exact replica.
The reason for the demolition is that it's just an old building.
It's got a leaking roof, and it's just easier and cost-beneficial to just do a reconstruction.
The building height will be 16 feet from the grate to the parapet.
The building size is about 28 by 50.
When you look at the building location with regards to the actual parcel itself, as you saw from the aerial, it's surrounded pretty heavily by wooded trees.
trees. There's trees surrounding the entire property. But with regards to distances,
which I think is just important, it's something that we spoke about at the RCO meeting,
we're about 489.69 feet from the back of Weigert Ave, which is located right around here.
I'll just get my orientation. Then at 434.73 feet from Umbria Street, 655.11 feet from the
property line to the southeast, and then also 399.6 feet from the property line to the east.
As I said, this building is the backup for six ABC News for their broadcasting.
Under FCC licensing regulations, each broadcasting agency is required to have a backup.
So in the event that there is a cataclysmic event to one of the main servers, this one automatically kicks on.
So it is part of the FCC sort of requirements.
Again, the property itself is located in the RSD 3 residential single family detached zoning district.
Again, the property itself is located in the RSD3 residential single-family D.
It also has a few overlay districts, none of which are necessarily applicable to this application.
We did receive the refusal for two things.
One, I'm sorry, there is a steep slope protection overlay that is applicable here.
The refusal was for two things.
One was for the steep slope protection.
The other one has to do with the actual use.
The proposed use is a wireless service facility, which is prohibited in the RSD3 zoning district.
Again, what we're proposing to do is a demolition and a complete reconstruction of the identical building for the same exact purposes.
There's no enlargement of the use, but in fact, a reduction since the current building, excuse me, there is no enlargement of the current use, excuse me.
And then with regards to the steep slope disturbance, if you look at the plan right here, this is the area that we're talking about.
It's very minimal, and it's about 300 square feet that we're talking about.
And the reason why we're disturbing this is so that we can get a conduit underneath there.
It's a trench that we're going to be opening up, putting electrical lines in there, and then filling it back in.
And again, which is around 300 square feet.
It's a three-foot wide by three-foot deep.
Again, we're going to open it up, put the conduit in there, and then we're going to cover it.
No grade change at all.
And then these are the two earth disturbance plans that I did submit this morning as a supplement to the board.
We did go to the zoning, excuse me, we did go to the RCO meeting back in June, where the board, you know, it was a very lively discussion, but the board did end up voting unanimously to support this application.
With that being said, that's all I have with regards to testimony.
It's a pretty straightforward application, and I would just like to call on my witness, Mr. Jim Braun, to adopt that testimony.
sir could you please state your name and spell it for the stenographer get close to the mic if you
can sir james braun james braun b-r-a-u-n right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the
whole truth and nothing but the truth i do counsel mr braun were you present in the room when i made
this presentation yes and is everything accurate to the best of your knowledge information and belief
yes and if i was to call you to testify would you adopt that testimony as your own
yes thank you very much and you're you are the general contractor for this yes and you're
authorized to speak today correct thank you very much um council we've had several cases back here
right over the years myself no in general uh not that i've been involved there's been several cases
if i remember correctly there's multiple uh stations that are back that's right so i know
that mr braun had one a few years ago where they actually took down one of the um broadcasting
towers um so you know with all six you know channel six three and twelve yeah that's right
um questions from the board uh yes so what is inside the building uh transmitting equipment
they take the signal from fiber optic and convert it to fm signal because up the tower
and it's uh basically broadcasted for people who don't have cable so there's not like
employed the employees use the building or it's just straight for that just equipment okay all
All right. Thank you. Sure. All the questions questions from our attorney.
No questions at this time from the virtual audience.
No hands when any commission Jonathan Goins planning commission, the comprehensive plan recommends a zoning map change to icmx industrial commercial mixed use at this location.
The nonconformance is longstanding and has not caused detrimental impacts.
the city planning commission recommends the zoning board grant the barracks mi 2025 006
851 5375 umbria street i vote yes john's my vote is yes tenetta graham my vote is yes
ryan mcadams my vote is yes i win my vote is yes thank you very much okay thank you
Number 14, MI 2026-001-497-949-South Third Street.
Vern Anastasio is the attorney.
Morning again, Mr. Chair.
Morning, counsel.
Just for the record, state your name.
Vern Anastasio, A-N-A-S-T-A-S-I-O. On behalf of Mr. Yong Shui.
MARY JO GIOVACCHINI- Okay. Our Vice Chair has a few questions.
MARY JO GIOVACCHINI- Good morning. Have you submitted your documents and exhibits
five days in advance of this hearing?
Vern Anastasio, Yes.
MARY JO GIOVACCHINI- And do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Vern Anastasio, I do.
MARY JO GIOVACCHINI- All right. Thank you. You can share your screen and proceed with the case.
Thank you.
Okay, members of the board, this 949 South 3rd street is a corner property in Queen village and it was for a very long time, a corner bar, very actually well known corner bar that ultimately was converted that 1st floor into a a an apartment and the upstairs unit has always been an apartment.
itself let's get to um excuse me
okay these are the plans you'll see an unfinished left to right you'll see an unfinished basement
you'll see a first floor here's the entrance it's catty corner because of the
commercial you know former commercial space that's where they had the entrance it opens up
into a living room kitchen dining area a full bath and a bedroom my client currently lives
in that unit and then the second floor is a second unit the living room dining room kitchen
with the existing third floor being a bedroom
and a little home office.
This unit is currently occupied.
The conversion was done long before my client purchased the property
and the basement is all mechanicals.
Here's some photos.
and if legalized my client would be willing to do some facade work on the property
We met with the queen village neighbors association. There is a letter of full support in.
That was submitted to the zoning board and I'm also on notice from councilman's office that a letter of non opposition was sent over as well.
I move those two things and the incomplete 82 page binder that I have here today into evidence
and with that I'd like to call my client Mr. Yong Shui.
Yong Shui will be rejoining us in a minute. Thank you. You're welcome.
yes i am here good morning good morning sir could you please state your name and spell it for the
stenographer yeah my name is young last name is shui y-o-n-t s-h-u-a-i do you swear or firm to tell
truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes if possible could you turn your video on
oh i'm sorry i forgot that yeah that's fine counsel thank you mr schweid did you hear my
presentation to the board this morning yes true and accurate to the best of your knowledge yes
and do you adopt it as your own testimony yes thank you i have nothing further so counsel
So first floor is a unit, and the second and third floor is the second unit?
That's correct.
All right.
Questions from the board?
Modest trash storage for both units, where's the trash storage?
Interior trash storage was the request of the RCO, and that's what we plan to do.
in terms of you said of approved your client would be uh wanting to do some facade improvements
with what they'd be doing are they gonna well as you can see one of the photos there's just
a blank wall that it was a it was a large window that was covered up with some siding
and uh a window air condition was installed uh he would consider putting in you know upgrading
either putting in some additional windows, something larger to bring in some light.
Consider the writing reconsider the signing.
Most certainly it's in queen village. So now that anything that would happen, anything that would be done would have to be at least reviewed by the historical commission.
Questions for our attorney.
No questions at this time, Mr chairman questions or comments from diverse audience.
no hands chair planning commission Jonathan Goins planning commission
okay sorry in 2017 the zoning map was amended to RSA 5 residential single family at this location
in accord with recommendations from the comprehensive plan the proposed use is
consistent with documented prior use of the property city planning commission recommends
the zoning board grant the variance for two units. MI 2026-001-497-949 South 3rd Street,
I vote yes with proviso. Certificate of occupancy to be obtained. Michael Johns, my vote is yes. Hold
on, an interior trash. Right. Michael Johns, my vote is yes with provisos. Danetta Graham, my vote
is yes with proviso. Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes with proviso. Hyowin, my vote is yes with proviso.
Thank you.
Thank you, counsel.
Number seven, MI 2026-000722-5036 Ogden Street. Alan Nockamson is the attorney.
you made your entrance right on time there i mean i'm just uh it's at 12 o'clock all right let me
just make sure i have the materials up uh good morning mr chair could you please state your name
and spell for the stenographer alan knockamson um well everyone knows how to spell his allen a-l-a-n
last name knockamson n-o-c-h-u-m-s-o-n do you swear referring to tell the truth told
truth nothing but the truth i do our vice chair has a few questions for you sir
good morning um have you submitted your documents and exhibit five days in advance of this hearing
yes we have okay and this is a referral so did you waive the reading of the referral and stipulate
to its accuracy i do okay all right thank you you can share your screen and proceed with the case
just pull up
Do you want to say anything about the notes that we have here before you start?
Yes, I can do that.
We have a quick question.
are you asking for three adults to be living at the facility i mean at the at the property we
didn't put the amount of adults here i think we would agree to a maximum of four so if the board
feels so inclined to put a number amount we would ask for a maximum of four there's three bedrooms
in there so we want the flexibility to have one bedroom due to economic factors to be potentially
shared but we don't anticipate that all bedrooms would be shared but we would ask for a maximum of
four occupants living there as part of the facility the personal care home the reason why
we had a question was in the lease that's attached between the owner and his son who's the tenant
it indicates that it's um the lease is for small residential living arrangements for up to three
adults with supportive services hence why the question yeah so i do believe um well donald's
the owner uh hamilton and donnell is his son so i believe both of them are either they're in the
bird here back behind me but i think they'll probably be in the virtual audience but um i
do believe and we'll have donnell speak to that that was a discussion point we would ask for
for maximum of poor so I I am ready thank you for your indulgence as board member Graham stated this is not a variance this is a referral so you know the standard is is is much lower you know in that we the standard is we just have to prove that the use
that we the standard is we just have to prove that the use that we're proposing is no worse
that we're proposing is no worse than what you would tip
than what you would typically expect of a personal care home and you'll see from uh the presentation
uh that uh you know my client donnell hamilton is is is well equipped to handle this so during
our presentation we will be reviewing uh the 10 exhibits and again i have donald the owner
Hamilton, as well as Donnell, his son, who's going to be the operator.
So the first thing is, again, this is a referral.
This is an RSA-5 property.
We're looking to put a group living personal care home here.
And again, if the board feels so inclined to limit the amount of occupants living there,
we would ask that it would be a maximum of four.
We have, again, not typical when you have a personal care home, especially in these
situations, but we have full support, overwhelming support for board members.
as well as eight people who attended the meeting as well.
So that's unanimous support there.
And then we explained the situation.
This is a block that is uninhabited
from a building structure standpoint
and a lot of vacant lots.
My client, what he's looking to do
is have autistic kids here
who are capable of living on their own,
but with assistance.
And there's a lot, I know I always say,
you know i try to put myself in the situation but next door we have a neighbor who is you know
autistic and he you know he works and he's functional but he lives with his parents because
it's you know it's not easy for you know some people to like live on their own and those are
the people that he's going to have similarly someone who doesn't have that that support with
their parents but who needs that extra help and and you know donnell will have you know uh employees
there 24 7 so we'll have three shifts of eight hours each there so again we're mid-block on
ogden street you can see where we are in the neighborhood we're in the 44th democratic ward
photographs of the property my client started doing looks like some work there exterior work
obviously he's going to do everything with permits and approvals which include hopefully the zoning
permit as well. This is proof of posting for today's hearing. This is Ogden Street to the
right of the property and to the left of the property. And then these are interior photos.
So again, Donald has owned this property as a rental property for some time, had issues with
some occupants. You can see the people who lived there left a lot of stuff there. And Donnell
wants to, he's a registered nurse. He wants to start this business. He's very well qualified.
um and he wants to use this property as its its hub for his first personal care home
so if i just want to give you an idea of what you know the inside look like
and the outside
and so there's no basement living here the only thing that's down there i went to the board to
see that is a bathroom there's no intention to put any bedrooms down there and such i just want
to give you every angle that you can see here. This is an uninhabited property that's been
abandoned by former tenants. And then just in terms of floor plan, you come into the
porch area. There is an opening here. You would have a living room, dining room, kitchen,
outdoor area. Go to a lower level. This is where the bathroom is. Again, this is not
to scale. We just want to do for illustrative purposes only. The hot water heater is down
there if you go up instead of the first four you go up a flight of steps there are three bedrooms
and then one bathroom so it's a three bedroom one and a half bath and you can see every room
bedroom has windows which was i know is very important to the board but these are pre-existing
conditions we met with the community on july 6th at 5 p.m it was a well-attended meeting we had 12
people there four board members and and eight community members all in support proof of mailing
Our application for a special exception, our deed to the property showing that Donald Hamilton is the owner of the property and has been since 2017, and our Certificate of Tax Clearance.
Again, I would have, I guess, Donald verify some of the property characteristics, but now have Donnell testify as to his business.
sorry mr donald hamilton donald
i don't see anyone in the audience with that name what about donnell
d-o-n-n-e-l donald or donnell no they're they're not in the audience yeah because we were scheduled
no they're they're not in the audience yeah because we were scheduled for noon today
for noon
that's at least why we had 1206 so i tell my clients to come an hour beforehand that's why
i came an hour beforehand so um i can give testimony as to what i can tell you what they
would have testified to but the board wants to feel comfortable i can why don't why don't we do
this why don't we um one of you as an officer of the court give us your testimony yeah and then
we'll if we're comfortable that we'll figure out where we are all right great um so again he'll have
three staff members working eight hour shifts so one staff member per eight hour shift there um
they'll so it'll be staffed 24 hours a day his qualifications um in terms of he would do
background he has to do his own background checks he has to have a hipaa agreement he has to have
you know obviously this is a heavy heavily regulated uh practice not just for the city
but for the state as well so they have to do their own inspections um you know the the people
that work there have to have cpr certifications first aid certifications emergency response
training abuse neglect and reporting training training on de-escalation and behavioral training
So in addition to Donnell, who is a licensed nurse, he has to have this training, plus all staff members will have the training.
He will not accept any residents with mobility limits or who require evacuation assistance.
So he's not going to have anyone who has physical disabilities.
and he's not looking to hire to have anyone in this space that really can't just take care of
themselves like you know they just need guidance during that time just in case right like you know
they just need a human hair an adult to help them you know if if they just need assistance
he doesn't anticipate any of the members in the in the or the occupants to have like need for a car
He doesn't expect any of them to be driving, so it's not going to cause any issue with public streets and congestion.
No medication will be managed or administered at the property, and he's going to get a PhD ODP license.
and as i stated with the state they require regular property inspections
and he will accept state funding as part of the odp program uh trash will be stored in the rear
with city pickup and then the programming he's going to have is just different programming
events tv laundry he'll have there and he will have cooking on the premises where he'll have
staff members cook for the residents there uh and he'll take insurance so that's basically where
would the clients come from the state uh i believe so that is correct questions from the board i
didn't hear that last part where were the clients come from i i would believe they're they're they're
through the state okay the state and city program so to come again i i would defer to him but i
would assume they would be coming through some governmental program well what's the age group
uh he did say he would accept minors but i i don't want to state exactly who what the age
range is again he's not looking to to have people who have any physical limitations
and in terms of of their mental capacity they have to be functional like we're not because
we're not administering drugs there. So it's people who are able to take care of themselves
but need that extra assistance with adult supervision. And you can define that when
you're accepting individuals through programs that you don't want to take anybody that has
medications or takes medications? That's my understanding from my notes is that he is not
accepting anyone that requires medication that needs to be administered by his facility so i
don't want to state so why don't why don't we do this yeah why don't i move on to the next case
you could go in the back or wherever see if you can get them ready and then we'll go to you next
and that way the questions could be answered thank you okay thank you very much sure all right so next
one is seven number eight number eight number eight mi 2026 000 724 4182 to 36 decatur street
Rachel Pritzker is the attorney.
Rachel will be rejoining as a panelist
good morning good morning counsel could you please state your name and spell for this
sonographer yes Rachel r-a-c-h-a-e-l pritzker p-r-i-t-z-k-e-r right do you swear or affirm
to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes could you identify your
client a relationship to the property yes my client is william redmond and he is the owner
of the property so there's a letter of non-opposition from homesburg civic and also a
letter of support from council member driscoll our chair has a few questions great thank you
good morning morning have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of
this hearing yes and do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy
All right.
Thank you.
You can share your screen and proceed with your case.
Can you see my screen?
So this is 4132236 Decatur Street.
This property is owned RSA 3 and the application is for the legalization of a detached private
garage with one parking space which is accessory to a single family home within a detached
structure the only refusal that this generated was because of the setback so for private
residents garages and carports they are permitted in the rear yard provided that the residence or
garage for the carport shall remain a minimum of three foot setback this garage doesn't meet
that requirements whereas from the rear property line it's less than a foot however as we'll go
through this is this garage replaced an existing garage that burnt down it has the same structure
and sizing of those garages and this condition where it's not three feet from the property line
is similar to the adjacent properties above i do have to give credit to mr redmond he handled this
most of this application and process without me I got involved sort of on the later end just to
help through the hearing so just want to give him a little credit for the work that he did
and just share a little bit about his application again this is constructed on the same footprint
as the old burned down garage extended footprint into his property is about 540 square feet to
660 square feet. And again, any offsets were sort of where the old footprint were. And other
properties in the neighborhood, as mentioned, have zero setbacks or are directly on the property
lines. Use a foot setback adjoining the directly adjacent neighbor and a five-foot setback from the
private driveway, which allows the neighbors to access their garages as well. This is the
tax clearance and the deed for the property.
This is just the zoning map just showing its RSA 3 property, larger corner property,
as you can see from this slide.
I think the lot is almost 12,000 square feet, pretty large property.
And as you can see here, you have the single family home and then the detached garage as well.
Another aerial zoom out a little bit.
This is the front of the home, again, on a pretty large lot.
Zoning posters on the property, more photos.
Okay, this is the exterior view of the garage.
the siding was obviously updated which matches more of the neighborhood as well
than what was there the internal part of the garage just for one car
an exterior view this is the house over here and then the garage on the side
again another view
Again, another view, because that's the neighbor's yard to sort of the end of the garage.
This is the code section.
As mentioned, it requires three feet setback.
Again, we're providing almost a foot.
Mr. Redmond went to the RCO meeting, sent the required notices that are on the screen,
sent the mailing out.
I met with Holmesburg Civic Association, and they did not oppose the application for the
the variance for the non-compliance setback for the garage in the rear of the property.
And again, a letter of non-opposition from Councilman Driscoll's office as well.
So the plans that were drawn up.
So again, this is over 11,000 square foot parcel.
so you have the home here and then we have the one story metal garage that's here accessed by
this private easement to access it so and again it replaced the existing one that was there so
I think setting it over would encroach into this fenced area in the patio setting it back would
encroach into the play area and so it's just taking up again the area that was in if there's
five feet here about 0.85 almost a foot there and then all the rest of this is his property
and that's sort of it on this I want to see if we could bring Mr. Redmond William Redmond he
should be in the audience um to adopt my testimony
william redmond should be rejoining us now thank you you're welcome
Mr. Redmond, looks like he declined. I will try one more time. Thank you.
so rachel he had a fire then he rebuilt it himself without a permit is that what we're
saying correct so this is to legalize yep yep structure william redmond you're free to speak
hi mr redmond could you please mr redmond please state your name is spelled for the
stenographer. He's muted. William Redmond, can you please unmute yourself?
Can you hear me now? Yeah, we can, sir. Could you please state your name and spell it for
the stenographer? William Redmond, W-I-L-L-I-A-M-R-E-D-M-O-N-D. Do you swear or affirm to tell
the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth? Yes, sir. Council. Mr. Redmond, have you heard my
testimony today do you believe it to be true and accurate and do you adopt it as
your own yes sir yes ma'am that's okay that's all chairman unless there's
questions from the board yes the neighbor next door do you have the
support from the neighbor because the garage is like really close to that
shared fence yes ma'am it actually works to his benefit it closes in his one side
of his lot in the back of his property both of those properties are in the process of being
rehabbed due to the fire they both burned out thank you does the new garage have an electric
line running to it yes yes it does it has its own electrical service which is the permit is in the
process of being finalized as soon as i get the building permit okay understood
other questions questions from our attorney not at this time mr chairman questions or comments
from the virtual audience no hands planning commission jonathan goins planning commission
the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing rsa3 residential
the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing rsa3 residential single family zoning
the proposed dimensional variance is minimal and does not conflict with the purpose and spirit of
the zoning code the city planning commission recommends that the zoning board grant variance
mi2026 000724 4132 to 36 decatur street i vote yes go johns my vote is yes
tenetta graham my vote is yes ryan mcadams my vote is yes i win my vote is yes thank you thank you
counsel um i'll move on to number 10 because his clients weren't coming to 12 anyway so
So, number 10, MI20260007272913Jetson Street.
Zen Jin is the attorney.
Zen Jin has been promoted.
thank you
good morning good morning counsel could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
yes uh my name is zen jen z-h-e-n last name j-i-n here on behalf of the applicant
right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
i do counsel could you identify your client and relationship to the property
Yes, my client is Amir Simpson, 2906 North Justin, LLC, the property owner.
Our vice chair has a few questions.
Good morning.
Have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
Okay, and you have several refusals here, so do you waive the reading of your refusals and stipulate to their accuracy?
Yes, I do.
All right, thank you.
You can share your screen and proceed with your case.
Thank you.
i'm going to share with the board what was previously submitted as our exhibits it should
be coming up on the screen can the board see my screen on there i can thank you uh good morning
this is an application uh for legalization of additions at a property at 2913 judson street
My client owns and occupies the property. He is a self-employed individual who bought the property, moved in, was excited about the ownership and did renovations without realizing that it triggered various dimensional zoning refusals.
i think the best way to kind of address all the refusals is simply go to the plans and photos
first it will better show the board what is going on with the property so the property is located
here uh it's on judson street kind of in the middle of the block there is a shared alleyway
behind and there are various neighboring properties uh this is actually the property in question here
And the front setback dimensional variance is regarding the enclosed porch, which is used as essentially a small room where he puts a closet and shoes.
We'll show that picture in a minute.
The property is actually abutted on one side by existing property, on the other side by a few lots, which also is owned by my client at the moment and is vacant.
Not every lot, one or two of the lots are owned by him.
The one thing that we are removing, and this is important with regard to visibility, is this deck.
He put a deck up that essentially covered the rear and side.
You can see here the rear where the wall is, that it covers it, so it made it pretty much an enclosed space.
The community had issues with that, worrying about visibility.
So he had agreed to remove it, and that will be removed as part of the process of moving forward.
The rear space is, because of an addition he did to expand interior space, the rear yard space really is very small.
As you can see, this is the wall in question about the 8-foot wall.
It runs all the way down. It's actually very similar to walls already existing on the block and runs the other way onto the other lots as well.
There is a door for access to the fire alleyway as needed, so it is not really locking him into the space in the rear.
The property surrounding and in the back really had no issue with the actual wall.
Their main concern was the deck, which made that space not visible.
So they were happy to hear that this would be removed.
so they were happy to hear that this would be removed and also my client does live in the
and also my client
property as you can see he's done extensive work to make the property nice for his family
this is the enclosed porch area right here in the photo as you can see it's just a little bit of
closet space some shoes for storage of his shoes and other items it's again a single family house
that he resides in uh this is some of the rooms as you can see uh this is the kitchen uh first
floor area this stair leads to the second floor this is the uh basement area here with the uh
utility closet and the uh small bathroom in the in the basement the plants also show that
i'm going to move to the plan so it's clear on how the space is laid out with regard to
the dimensions so what had happened is there is a existing addition however he did existing
addition because the next door property has the same depth and in fact a lot of properties on the
block have similar depth so he thought that by extending it to match the rear of the neighboring
property he's not violating any dimensional code however of course that is incorrect
the front porch enclosure there's another one on the block um when we met with the community
the neighbor the immediate neighbor and the neighbors really did not have objection to that
given that the front does look fine with the new design so the main concern the neighborhood had
was the visibility from the deck they're actually more concerned about someone
climbing onto that deck and causing problems so they asked that to be
removed the there were other safety issues on the block unrelated to my
client's property going back a few years so a lot of the discussion went into do
you have lighting on there what and he does and he does have security camera as
well so the committee members and the neighbors are very happy to hear about
that primarily we are asking for dimensional variances here for various items that's uh
pretty much the uh refusal items that you see uh with the deck being one of the things that we're
not looking for however that that basically changes our 100 coverage uh to basically a
smaller overall coverage because once the deck's removed the rear yard is still shorter than what
code permits with the uh with the property being the way it is uh with the access to the rear
alleyway being available and it's it's going to be maintained again as a two-story single family
dwelling we had no other objections from the neighbors and once again the rear does match
the neighbor's depth which has a similar depth rear yard my client should be here to verify the
testimony uh we were told to estimate to be heard around 12 30. uh i did ask him to still log in
in advance so i'm not sure if he's on at this moment that's i missed amir simpson yes amir
simpson yes before your client comes on are you saying the whole deck goes yes the whole deck
would be removed. Okay. Sir? Amir, if you're on, please unmute. Hi, sir. Could you please
state your name as spelled for the sonographer? Amir Simpson, first name A-A-M-I-R, last name
simpson simpson do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
yes counsel thank you amir um did you hear my testimony before the board and also see the
presentation on your screen yes can you verify what i have represented to the zoning board to
be true and correct and adopted as your own testimony yes can you confirm that the deck
will be removed if uh the board permits this to move forward as proposed yes thank you
questions from the board uh yeah there are a number of uh guess concerns one do you own the
property adjacent to you directly adjacent to you so no so for that property i paid a property tax
the owner abandoned the property when they knocked down the building so i've been practicing
I believe adverse possession. So I've been paying the property taxes and everything for the last,
I want to say about 10 years. And I own four other lots after that. So it's the one that's
after that so it's the one that's directly next to me and i own four directly after that so the
directly next to me and I own four.
one directly next to you you don't know that's the one that you're looking to to get adverse
possession for and i believe that's 20 years right um so i think for residential i believe
it's a little bit less is it less okay yeah um because you know i look at your plan and you've
got these windows on the property line which you can't have um so lni is going to make you take
them out right because you can't have windows on your property line um if you don't own the
property next to you um that would need to be some sort of lot consolidation right so that that's
going to be problematic and you put a lot of work into this i can see um the other thing is the
enclosed porch i don't doesn't that have to go separately as a separate approval it is uh part
of the front setback refusal is what the enclosed porch uh triggered uh on the um on the uh refusal
side okay because the adjacent house doesn't have the porch okay enclosed it does have a
The porch is not enclosed. So that is the front. Right? Yeah.
Um, okay. And then you did the extension on the back.
Correct. All right. Yes.
All right. So, those are my comments.
The questions questions from our attorney.
Yes. I just wanted to clarify. You've indicated that you're removing the deck. I realize that. Did you submit plans to L&I, like revised plans to L&I, that showed the absence of the deck in the rear?
In fact, I believe our plans here does not show a deck, right? That plan that is before the board today also has the deck already removed on the plan.
Okay, because that would be this area will be covered by the deck. Is that correct?
Yes, it was just a question because you indicated you were then removing the deck. So that's why.
Questions or comments from diverse audience?
Yes, Chair, I have a phone number ending in 3552.
Okay, they will be allowed to speak.
hello hi adrian hi how could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
yes adrian fernandez my life name is spelled f-e-r-n-a-n-d-e-z
truth and nothing but the truth adrian yes please proceed
okay um comfort rco is only um only support of the front enclosed porch if
the owner uh gets certificate of occupancy from lni the uh eight percent is no one around here has
eight percent back there and um the decks also we don't have decks or um the uh yards on that
block of race mark feel like that's a small block um the south facing wall is adjacent to 2911
north fronzo the owner and her mother have passed away and house was torn down after that so it is
part of their state and not owned by 2913 owner that wall has numerous windows that shouldn't be
there it has a door that shouldn't be there and it also has a deck built out my guess is about
um maybe 10 feet or maybe not maybe uh six feet it's built out six feet into um 2911 as a camp
reliever to the structure to the structural wall the south facing wall so all that has to be removed
um i forgot if there's a deck in the back or not but i think it was mentioned there was a deck in
the back that needs to be removed there's um this house was worked on at the opposition of neighbors
for a long time with complete disregard to what was happening to the what it caused in our
neighborhood that part of judson street it is the most dangerous in terms of if you hide you can't
see if visibility is hidden you can't see there was a murder in front of the tree which is about
2909 a murder of a man who was the son of one of the mayor's employees
a murder of a man who was the son of one of the mayor's employees and also on the corner more
recently the owner of that property was robbed because the owner of 2913 has built security
fences um there's no curb cut never has been it's all residential um he's built them on 29 11 2909
2907 2905 and he also it's 100 okay he cannot see through it so it makes a large area where
it's not visible and increases um you know crime dangers to the area um all that needs to be
removed because he does not own those properties continuously he does not own them um neighbors
want all that removed and to be restored to um either a fence you can see through that's lower
um or just you know open with like a wooden fence as a lot of the lots have so um
there's a lot of violations on 2913 i think there's 16 investigations and about 12 violations
the other properties that he built on without permits fencing security gates that you can
drive-through and keeping cars on those lots belong to other persons and um they are 2911
2913 2909 2907 and 2905 all all those structures that he built there need to be removed
we did inform the owner of 2913 that we would never approve a curb cut there because
we are within a thousand feet of a school and um children are always walking down that street
on school time even in summer because the school is open for camp it just makes it dangerous to
think that cars will drive down cambia and then make a right onto judson that's going to be a
problem for children on an ongoing basis because it is elementary school so there's really young
children walking over there and a lot of elder persons so in summary the porch on the front
if um he can get l and i approval for that because we don't know how sound the structure is and to
protects the neighbor that's connected and we're also asking that the if the
variance is granted there's just be for the porch no eight-foot wall and no deck
and also that there be a temporary variance granted for four years to give
the owner and us time for him to correct all the not unpermitted and not
implemented structures that he has built on 2913, 2911, 2909, 2907, 2905, which is really
egregious to do that to a community without going through LNI, which has been a whole
lot easier if he had just went through LNI because it guided him and given instructions
on how to properly build on properties that he was allowed to build on.
Thank you very much.
All right.
Thank you.
thank you uh adrian um just just to be clear the other properties is basically the enclosure that
you're taking issue with correct because there's a fencing around what you're saying i'm not i'm
not sure give addresses because he's built on five properties 11 13 13 which he owns he's built on
11 and he does not own 09 0705 so can you be specific when you ask me questions so the structure
your the structure you're referencing is basically a fence correct
l and i is calling that a security gate it is a drive-thru security gate that requires a um
you know a license for a um that is a um that is a separate that's a separate product property
that has separate uh ongoing uh matters with l and i uh with regard to this property okay let
let me finish i wasn't finished the those structures were built
who owns 2913 and this is why ellen i was called to the locations okay so he built
all of those structures and we have photographs proving that uh with his construction workers
and everything uh not not to cut you off ms agent uh said i'm here at the property if y'all want me
to like show y'all a video or anything because i don't know which structure you're wrong here's
here's structures are the security center listen to me listen to me everyone listen this is a
concentration on 29-13 and that's what the board's looking at and adrian i appreciate your testimony
but that's where we are right now 29-13 uh zen do you have anything more you want to say about 29-13
yes uh just that we would agree to remove the deck um it would be part of if that's any part
of the requirement that's been agreed to uh and and uh any other requirement the board may have
thank you i have one more question i'm looking at google is that extension i see an extension
on to 2913 is that an extension is that extension still there um when you're
is that an extension is that extension still there um when when you're talking about extension you
mean it looks like it appears to be a wooden second floor extension that's the deck that's
the deck well it's enclosed it's like a second floor edition uh no uh amir the in the rear there's
a the when you're talking about second floor there's an on the google maps is that the deck
that's kind of covering that rear open space as a cover is a second floor deck that extends on
to 29 whatever the property is next to it i guess that's the deck is on you talking about on 29 11
correct correct turns to the side of the building yes all that will be removed part of the deck
all right okay um planning commission
Jonathan Goins Planning Commission comprehensive plan recommends no change to the RSA 5 residential single family zoning at this location.
Work was done without the benefit of zoning permits, and the appellant has not shown that dimensional compliance would have caused a significant financial burden.
The city planning commission recommends the zoning board deny the dimensional variance. Thank you. Um, Council, uh, we want to hold this.
It's a lot to digest, and I don't want the whole board to get a feel on where we stand with this.
So we will vote on this next Wednesday at 9.30 a.m.
Can I speak just to respond to some of what Ms. Adrian?
I think there's enough response.
I think a lot of comments were made about other properties.
has 2913 in front of him and that's what we're going to concentrate on what what's going to
happen at 2913 what we think is the right thing to do so next week we will go at 9 30 a.m do you
want that the date it's all sure sure it's going to be let me just make sure i'm right yeah august
5th august 5th okay into the right thank you everything's closed everything's closed thank you
Thank you. Mr. Nockamson, will you come up and finish?
So, if I remember correctly, we were in the
point of following up and you were trying to answer questions. So why don't you introduce
your clients first and I'll, Darnell? Darnell. Darnell, could you please state your name and
spell it for the stenographer? Darnell Hamilton. D-O-N-N-E-L-L. Right. All right. Last name?
h-a-m-i-o-t-o-n do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the
truth yes now counsel you remember some of the questions so why don't you kick it off yeah so i
made a few representations to the board that you did not hear i just want to make sure they're true
and accurate um you're going to have three staff members working eight hour shifts separately each
so it'll be 24 7 care yes uh your clientele will be highly functional autistic individuals
yes all right um while you're not administering uh medication uh you will uh
i guess allow them to have medication while in the premises yes and you did state something about
like a reminder system that you do have so can you explain that so so it's a medication reminder
that the residents uh the people will have based off their needs that they need to utilize their
medication that's what the medication reminder is it doesn't necessarily mean that we're
delivering it it's just that they have it on hand all right and then the individuals that will be
living there are through city and state government programs is that correct yes all right and then
your why don't you state your qualifications like certifications as such the board i'm a six-year
licensed practical nurse i have a wide expertise when it comes to people of disorder mental
disorder like schizophrenia autism etc uh in multiple different facilities okay and then
the individuals that would be working here and including yourself have to go through background
checks yes have to sign hipaa agreements yes medical screenings yes provide immunization
documentation yes have cpr certification yes first aid certification yes
have cpr certification yes first aid certification yes emergency response training
yes abuse neglect and reporting training yes training on de-escalation and behavioral training
yes all right um what what would be the age this was a question the board asked what would be the
age range of the individuals who would be living there the age range would on average be around 30
to 50 okay and they would have no physical limitations no and you expect that they would
the clientele that you're seeking you would expect they would be taking public transportation if
anything yes all right and then you would you know the people oh we talked about uh food service you
would have your staff cook food for these individuals yes all right and then you would also do
programming for these individuals as well yes can you tell the board some of the programming
you envision in the property well some of them will be like a programs where you know in field
trips like once a month we'll take them out to certain events like neighborhood or you know
certain events like you know the casino or movie night uh and uh day programs is basically um
Like, it's therapeutic things like, you know, events like stretching or, you know, getting them more independent with their livelihoods, because we are, it is a supportive system that we're trying to do.
We're, they're basically people that are like tenants, but, you know, we're just assisting them and we're just trying to improve their daily livelihood with these daily programs.
Right. And then there's state licensing requirements, such as a PA, PhD, OPD license as required, right?
And the state has regular property inspections as well, right?
I think that's basically it that I presented last time. I don't know if I missed anything.
You want to talk a little bit too. Three bedrooms, four people? Tell me how you'll handle that.
The three bedrooms for four people maximum. So one will be a shared space. It will be the biggest room. Everything else will be private. It's above watching 20 square feet and that meets the requirements to have two people in there at the same time.
okay all right and then oh one other thing the board didn't mention that there was a lease that
was presented to them of one year but my understanding is that you agreed to a five-year
extension with the property owner who also happens to be your father right yes and then i can have
mr hamilton also verify to the board that they'll adopt your testimony and he'll adopt that portion
of the testimony that there would be a five-year lease starting the date of the hearing so that
board feels comfortable that it's now a one-year lease so for the term of it so and what and would
the uh applicant be uh if we so were inclined to approve a five-year temporary variance
state that again a five commensurate with your lease a five-year temporary
I have a question. So are these residents, are they mandated to participate in your programs
or are they, is it optional for them since you said it's supportive?
100% optional.
Optional, okay. And then the other question is, you said there will be 24-hour staff.
I know the drawing that you gave us wasn't, you know, to scale, but could you show us
where would the office i mean the workers have their space well and then which bedroom is the
biggest bedroom because we couldn't see any kind of like measurements yeah so and just correct me
if i'm wrong uh donnell you don't have a space for them so to speak you have a living area for them
for the for the employee that's going to be staying there is that correct yes
while you're at what would the basement be used for the basement would be for laundry and storage
yeah i represent it to the board there's no living down there right no and and there's a
washer and dryer but and there's a bathroom down there too right yes but you don't expect to
actually put a bedroom down there no or any living area down there no all right
so i would assume that this bedroom is the biggest one right here and i'm putting a circle around
yes and you i think you stated during your testimony i can i can tell you i can tell you
that's not true the biggest bedroom is the one in the front that's the biggest bedroom
that's the biggest bedroom how about this one which which which one do you envision
how about this one which which which one do you envision i again
again maybe i thought that was the biggest bedroom yeah only because that's best because
your drawings are never the scale yeah well i'm not an architect so which which of the three
bedrooms that my team tried to draw is the biggest bedroom and that you envision will be used as the
dual for the dual for two people the bottom one right here yes okay and I
think you say that during your testimony that was approximately 120 square feet
yes and meet the requirements thank you yeah that's right because there are
requirements in terms of occupancy if you have multiple individuals how big the
bedroom had to be yes and you can't even be approved unless inspections are made
All right. Thank you. So on this drawing, and at least you put some furniture in there, Mike, you put some furniture in there for you. They may not be on scale, but there's furniture. So where do you envision your work or to have some space to maybe fill out some documents or where in this space?
Well, I was going to include all that in the basement.
Other questions?
Questions from our attorney?
No questions at this time.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Yes, there's a Sherry Vaughn with the hand up,
will be allowed to speak.
Good afternoon.
It's so morning, it's so morning.
Sherry Vaughn, can you unmute yourself?
Sherry Vaughn. Hi Sherry. Do you still mute it? Sure. Okay. Can you hear me now? I can most
certainly. Hi. Good morning everyone. Thank you. It's almost afternoon but good morning. Oh good
afternoon. Could you please state your name and spell it for the stenographer. My name is Sherry
vaughn s-h-e-r-r-y my last name is vaughn v as in victor a-u-g-h-a-n do you swear or affirm to
tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do i do thank you are you a neighbor
no actually i am a um i sit on the board for the 44th ward and i am executive board member
i was there at the meeting so i just wanted to just clarify a few things that i heard at the
meeting that may be a little different than what is being presented today okay go ahead um during
the meeting i we captured that there would only be three um participants or clients at the meet
at the house because there was only three bedrooms to accommodate um the clients so i just wanted to
make sure that i called that out just to make sure because when we approved the application
and we did endorse or support it but we again stated that it would be three applicants or
three clients and then Mr. Smith did clarify that his occupant is a licensed practical nursing so
that was great and then the only thing that I had and he did specify he clarified that as far as the
adults they they would be only occupied by adults i think he said 30 and above because i think
earlier the attorney said a minor and i know we didn't discuss that during our rco meeting
so those were just the three things that i just wanted to call out and thank you do you have
anything you want to yeah i mean as far as the third item again i i that's why i wanted to get
mr hamilton right here and so i didn't want to miss anything as far as the first item mr goldberg
for my team handle the community meeting so i can't speak to like was it presented that there
would only be three individual uh occupants in there i did mention three bedrooms um if i
excluded the part where it could potentially be four i apologize that's potentially from a shared
room spacing but if that is not okay then i can just you can just keep it and limit it to three
Yeah, I think the reason, again, when I, you know, preferred Mr. Hamilton, it was more so to give the optionality to do two individuals in one bedroom, just from an affordability standpoint.
But, you know, we leave it to the discretion of the board regarding that.
All right. Thank you.
I would just, again, do you want to hear from the building?
You want to bring him up? Sure.
Yeah, just to confirm the five-year term.
Bring him up.
Mr. Hamilton?
Thank you, guys.
thank you guys thank you and these will be both men and women are just one one gender um
Thank you.
And these will be both men.
you can tell me and i can tell them because you're not oh you can just say here
it can be men and women but the shared spacing if approved will just be of the same gender
All right. Mr. Hamilton, why don't you state your name for the record?
Donald Hamilton, first name D-O-N-A-L-D, last name Hamilton, H-A-M-I-L-T-O-N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir.
Yes, Mr. Hamilton, I made a representation to the board that I heard you state to your son who would also be your tenant.
that you're in agreement to a five-year term
from the date of today's hearing for this facility.
Is that correct?
Yes, sir, as long as he wants,
you know, because my son is really trying
to do something positive in life, so.
And also, one thing I want to mention-
You know what, I cannot hear him.
I cannot hear him.
One more thing, one thing my son did not,
you know, he's such a good kid, trying kid, where-
still can't still can't i don't know is the mic on is it on such a good kid where okay
i just give him the lead way because i see that he's ambitious and he's trying so when it comes
to the office i have 5027 ogden which is open i i don't rent my place i can't bother with the rent
the problems and whatever so he can utilize 5027 as an office where he can deal with the
with the um the workers yeah you know but he is he's not that experienced so i'm trying to help
him you know oh i and we appreciate that i think the board has to hear like for this property only
right you know i give my son a hundred percent lead way because he's very ambitious he's trying
as a young man he's not the street type you know as like myself so well i don't think you're street
gentlemen there okay thank you for your testimony thank you so much planning commission
jonathan goings planning commission uh the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the
rsa5 residential single family zoning at this location the proposed use should not cause
adverse impacts beyond what would normally be expected therefore the city planning commission
recommends that the special exception be granted right so alan we're going to vote on this next
wednesday right i want to get a chance to talk to the board about how many people we think is
appropriate saying like i just don't want to i i mean i know where i stand but yeah see where
everybody else stands right i appreciate it we'll do that at 9 30 on the 5th of august correct the
5th of August. Okay. All right. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Um, is there anyone in the
audience whose case has not been called? I see no handshare. Thank you, everybody. See everybody
at 2 p.m. Thanks. You start when you're ready.
Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Bill Bergman. I will be chairing this meeting of the Zoning Board of Adjustment. With me is our Vice Chair, Tanetta Graham.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Board Member, Michael Johns.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Taya Nguyen.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
And Ryan McAdams.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Also, here is our Attorney, Lynn Reuter-Huber, and also our ZBA Director, Ian Haggerty, and our Board Administrator, Lakeisha Dandy.
this hearing is being recorded and will be posted on the zba website
by participating you consent to be recorded this is an in-person meeting with remote participation
whether in person or on zoom if you're called to speak please state your name
spell it and also wait to be sworn in once you're sworn in each time you testify
please start by stating your name to enter an appearance enter the property address into your
zoom webinar speak with a staff member call this ebay office by the close of business tomorrow
call 215-686-2429 and provide your name email and the address of the property in question
provide your name email and the address of the property in question for remote
attendance raise your virtual hand when directed when we call on you to speak
please click the join as a panelist button use the Q&A only from for
procedural issues do not talk about the case itself if you're if you're joining
by phone press star nine to raise your hand and star six to unmute in person attendees if testifying
get close to the mic so that all attendees and also the court reporter can hear you
no talking eating or drinking during the hearing aggressive behavior will not be tolerated
in an emergency foul staff instructions also the exit is the two double doors in the rear
and there's the stairs are to the left if we evacuate please go to love park and wait for us
there so that we can account for you so let's look at our schedule for this afternoon
number 11 mi 2026 001 548 1201 to 11 east erie avenue that case is continued until 11 18 2026
and also
no no no no no no no no no no we're not please talk to our person okay okay all right we're gonna
a lot sir sir you
all right you have to leave sir
we're moving forward you have to leave
we have two cases here mi2026 000198 2401 north dover
and also mi2026 0002002416 north dover we have a request from the
RCO for a continuance and also from the council member's office. And also there's an attorney,
Rachel Pritzker, who represents PHA. Ms. Pritzker, could you come on, please?
Good afternoon, Chair. This is Jasmine, and I will be your co-host for this afternoon session.
Rachel Pritzker will be promoted to panelists.
Okay. Is there anyone from the council person's office?
i see no other hands up at this time is there anyone who is the head of the rco
who from the rco wants to speak come on come on yeah why don't you sit there
wait until we get the council
Colin, just sit in the audience. I'll give you a chance when you want. Sit up front here and then I'll have you testify. Okay.
Rachel?
All right. Rachel, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Sure. Rachel, R-A-C-H-A-E-L, Pritzker, P-R-I-T-Z-K-E-R.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
odessa tate o-d-e s-s-a t-a-t-e you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth i do colin why don't you sit there
good afternoon colin good afternoon chair would you please state your name and spell
for the stenographer yes sir it's conlan c-o-n-l-a-n crosley c-r-o-s-l-e-y right
But Dessa, we're going to start with you. What's your reason for a continuance?
Thank you. So, good afternoon, members of the board.
I support the development of affordable housing in our community.
However, I respectfully request that the board continue this hearing because the community engagement process remains incomplete.
During the first continuance, our organization made it clear that we were not opposed to this project.
Rather, we requested additional time so that PHA and the community could continue discussions regarding outstanding concerns.
could continue discussions regarding outstanding concerns phas council rachel pritzer supported
PHA's council...
that continuance and represented that pha will return to the community for those discussions
the april 29th 2026 registered community organization meeting demonstrates that
significant issues remained unresolved during that meeting pha acknowledged concerns regarding trash
management property management and neighborhood conditions PHA stated that
these issues required additional work that it would improve its plans develop
better management strategies and return with additional information when X to
manage the surrounding properties PHA's representative acknowledged that he did
not know whether management was handled internally or externally at the
conclusion of the meeting it was represented that there would be a
follow-up discussion to address the community's outstanding concerns. I
stated on the record that there would be a follow-up meeting and no objection was
raised. PHA likewise represented that it would take the community's concerns back
to its office, develop solutions, and return with additional information. That
follow-up meeting never occurred before the application returned to the board.
beyond the RCO meeting the broader community engagement process also
remained incomplete throughout this process all in the family continued
discussions with PHA regarding Village Event Park a community project our
organization has spent years planning fundraising and developing alongside this
redevelopment those discussions remain unresolved all in the family currently
has 73 000 committed to the project and pha has verbally committed 250 000 yet despite discussions
dating back to 2025 there is still no written agreement defining our role or memorializing pha's
commitments pha has repeatedly requested our letter of support for this zoning application
we have consistently explained that we cannot responsibly provide that support until the
community discussions are completed and PHA's commitments are reduced to
writing our permit our position has remained consistent we do not oppose the
housing development we simply believe that meaningful community engagement
requires more than holding a public meeting it requires following three
through all the commitments made to the community and completing the discussions
that were left open that includes returning to address the concerns raised
during the RCO meeting and finalizing the outstanding commitments regarding Village
Event Park for those reasons I respectfully request that the board
continue this hearing until the community engagement process has been
completed the promise follow-up meeting has occurred and the commitments made
throughout this process have been fulfilled thank you thank you good
afternoon chair um the fifth district's position is to support the community in
their ask for additional time. So we are asking for a continuance. We're not opposed to this
parcel or this development at all. We just want to give the committee more time so they can speak
with the developer. Rachel? Sure. Thank you. So as mentioned, I represent PHA. We have had a RCO
meeting on april 29th that we sent out notice and we met with the community we got a continuance in
front of this board already to have more time and then over the last couple months it was made aware
that the project was being sort of the support for the projects that are in front of the zba
are being held up because of another matter related to village park which i'm not involved
with so i don't want to misspeak on or um i don't have all the details on that but that matter is
not in front of the zoning board of adjustment so we we just um want to keep this moving forward
because the conversations that need to be had don't actually relate to what's in front of the
zoning board and on top of that as the board well knows there are timelines that have to be met for
HUD financing for 9% tax credit deals that require a zoning permit as part of the application.
Those applications are due in November.
So my request would be that while PHA, and they can speak for themselves, is already
expressed in writing that was sent to the board, the board's attorney, and as part of
the record, they are happy to continue meeting regarding the concerns on Village Park.
that these two projects don't get held up as sort of leverage.
that this these two projects don't get held up um as sort of leverage to deal with those issues so
that we can move forward with the zoning that's in front of the board and also make sure that we
don't miss deadlines for state and federal mandated applications for low-income housing tax credits
for affordable housing um and we're i'm committed to to meeting with the community if it has to do
with the zoning projects at hand but i can't meet or speak to anything else they're also
just so the board's aware, was a request for a meeting on May 25th that the community had said
doesn't count or they didn't want to do because it wasn't aligned with the RCO process. But
after a first meeting where you do notice, you're not required to have another meeting where you
have to notice the neighbors in the same way. Any subsequent meetings do not have to follow
the same protocol. They can include state reps, they include other people. And so I believe there
was a request to have a meeting on may 25th that was over a month ago but um that wasn't fruitful
so um we're kind of in this like log jam and impasse and if there isn't some kind of an
agreement related to village park this whole process will continue to be held up as a result
of that if the board's inclined to give any more time i would ask for a 30-day must be heard because
we don't want to miss an application um for for 9 tax credits for affordable housing that nobody
has an issue with are you ready to go today yes i am all right could you step back and let the
state rep take your sheet a minute sir could you please state your name and spell it for the
stenographer no i'm the chairman and board members my name is the state representative keith harris
and also rco president of the 28th award do you swear referring to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth i do please proceed um yes the the um community meeting was held with um
members of the community and myself or i think it was april 29th that we spoke about just like
the attorney said um another meeting did take place which i um and the community have north
ben baptist church rco in the room also and some members of the community have committee people
that represent a direct community where Elizabeth Park is and also where the development is New
Kurt and Dover Street also right there in the room also they support the project so although
the other entities are saying that they support the housing part so but that's like in like limbo
well not even limbo that is so the whole project isn't really the whole project because the housing
project is actually what we're talking about but the village invent park pha has committed 300 000
right to develop the park without any money from any other rcos or entities and they've committed
to that um what's held is being held up is a commitment that they won't build on the property
for 99 years and do a 20-year partnership with the if i'm speaking correctly partnership with
all in the family which i thought that it would hinder the process right they've committed to do
and i'd say we we've got to the finish line we we need we are um all the family have done a
tremendous job along with myself i was in these meetings for 10 years going to having meetings
and things like that any side conversations that was about those have been part that i wasn't privy
to then you know i wasn't prepared but the meetings was held with rev marshall of north
Baptist Church RCO, other community members. We've done this for over 10 years. So any new
subsequent asking of a letter for a community minister agreement, they're willing to do it
with the 28th Ward RCO, but I'm not asking for that. I'm trusting the PHA to do the right thing
to build community. They're going to build the housing. We need the housing. I'm a representative
committee person in the housing part i'm the 28th ward seventh division committee person
also anita roberts is in the room she's my partner and then the village event space the
representative is in the room for that that committee person which is nadine anderson these
so their constituents represent and vote for these people also ricky um he really lives on
the same hundred new curtain dover he's in the room he's supporting the project so it's i the
whole process with the village event park and also the housing part is a win-win for the community
it's it's it's process it actually is not perfection it's progress and that's why i'm for
this process project and i think that uh hopefully the board recognizes that and give us the green
light so we can give the community something tangible so they can see because this has been
This whole community has been blighted. Things have been torn down for years and it's time.
this whole community has been blighted things have been torn down for years and it's time to
get a community something tangible they can touch and say so thank you very much um we have two more
cases and then what we're going to do is we're going to go on today and hear these two cases
right we're going to hear the dover street cases today and what will happen is i have two cases to
hear first so if everybody would just step back and then what will happen is there'll be uh if
if you so choose you can have some community input when we go to the the audience okay but
we are going to hear the cases today all right thank you um we're going to go with uh number
one first right correct yeah mi 2025 007 792 6048 baltimore avenue phillip walker
what's that sure
we have also who's joining our panel is emily persico persipico um she's the designee of the
planning and direct uh director's office please thank you for coming in today as usual
so we're baltimore avenue right something i couldn't hear you
sir could you please state your name and then spell it for the stenographer
philip walker t-h-i-l-i-p w-a-l-k-e-r right do you swear or affirm the tell the truth the whole
truth and nothing but the truth i do our vice chair has a few questions for you sir
good afternoon um have you submitted i'm right here have you submitted your documents and exhibits
five days in advance of this hearing yes i submitted through the whole portal and i also
have them you know find it okay um so you're going to have staff assistance going to help you
um so you're here because you want to have a two-family household living and in your um
as in a zixir structure trying to legalize two two family household living correct yes ma'am okay
and you've been refused because you're in uh the property is in the rsa five zoning district
AND IT'S PROHIBITED TO HAVE TWO FAMILIES. YOU UNDERSTAND THAT? THAT'S WHY YOU WERE HERE.
THAT'S YOUR REFUSAL. YOU UNDERSTAND, RIGHT. OKAY. ALL RIGHT. SO YOU CAN JUST START YOUR
PRESENTATION. YOU CAN TELL US WHAT YOU'RE TRYING TO DO. AND YOU CAN CHECK THE SCREEN,
BECAUSE THEY'RE GOING TO SHOW YOUR PHOTOS AND YOUR DOCUMENTS. OKAY? ALL RIGHT. THANK YOU.
yeah this is Ian Hegarty I'm uh loading the documents now I'll have them up shortly
sit down it'll come up on the screen
and she'll be right out
Okay, all right, your documents are up.
is that it oh that's one of them yes okay let's see so um when you start again so talk about what
you're doing here okay so what am i doing here i purchased a multi-family property back in 2022
on 648 baltimore avenue and the whole strip the whole side in that that community was originally
built as multifamily. I don't know what happened, but get closer. I don't know exactly what
happened, but at some point in time, it reverted back to single-family residential. So I'm trying
to come here and get it zoned back to multifamily as it was originally constructed. Is it still
as it was originally constructed.
Is it still set up as multifamily?
set up as multifamily? Everything's exactly the same.
Everything's exactly the same.
It's still set up as multifamily.
I have pictures, exterior, interior to show that.
We'll go through the pictures with you now.
Will we go through the photos?
There I'm showing the multimeter box on the exterior side,
the back side of the house.
There I'm showing the two-car garage, two-car driveway, two AC units, two hot water heaters.
I'm showing the foyer area.
Unit number two is upstairs.
You can come in and walk upstairs.
The other apartment is at the bottom.
That's apartment number two upstairs.
Apartment number one downstairs.
That's upstairs, bathroom.
two water heaters again uh one of the bedrooms upstairs
i'm showing both bedrooms now upstairs two uh two bedroom one bath that's upstairs again
that's the uh living room set up upstairs that's downstairs unit that is vacant uh
showing the that's first floor first floor unit showing uh living room kitchen area
You can see two bedrooms in the back, and the bathroom will be off to the right.
And that's the downstairs bathroom.
Basement's just a garage.
Anything else?
Basement's garage, storage area.
It has a set of washing and dryer for each unit, storage area.
And is the rest of the remainder of the block still all multi-units?
All multi-units.
everybody on there got multiple meters on this uh all right questions from the board
yep so what do your tenants put their trash tenants put the trash the same as everybody
on the block as far as storage well i have storage containers inside the uh the garage
and we set it out on the driveway when it's time for our trash collection and they both
have access to the garage right everybody has access to the garage other questions
you're good questions from our attorney no questions questions or comments from the
virtual audience i see no hands at this time chair planning commission
lena solomonic with the planning commission do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the
whole truth and nothing but the truth? I do. Go ahead. The comprehensive plan recommends no change
in zoning at this location from the current RSA 5 residential single family. This property has
been zoned single family since 1970, and there is no evidence that the two-family condition was
created legally. The Planning Commission recommends the board deny the requested variance for two-family
house of living mi 2025 007 792 6048 baltimore avenue i vote yes michael johns my vote is yes
tenetta graham my vote is yes and mcadams my vote is yes hi i win my vote is the end
thank you sir you have your votes thank y'all okay all right mr chairman we need to go back
to the first add-on i can't hear you we had an add-on okay yeah the first one here we have it
yeah yeah we're good we're good the next case is 14 could you please come up and i'll i'll quote yeah
I got it.
There is here?
That's the one.
Good clock.
You got the new one or the old one.
I got the old one.
Where's the new one?
The new one is on page 44.
What's it say?
Oh, where is that?
Where is that?
Where is that?
Where is that?
Where is that?
Where is that?
I can see you right here.
There's one here, right?
Right now, that's 14.
That'd be it.
This is the new one.
Which one?
I'm trying to think.
Oh, she said that.
I'm sorry.
Said I lost the other one.
Right with you 1 minute. Um.
This is an add on we have here and my 20, 26, 0, 0, 1.
1, 3, 9, 37, 34 and North 16 street.
That case has been moved to Wednesday, August 5th at 2 PM.
Now, we're going to go to number 14.
MI 2026-003-295-4703-Basin-Bridge-Rode.
Catherine Misner, or you're going to do it?
Why don't you go on the mic?
Yeah, it's getting on.
State your name and spell it for the stenographer.
Thank you.
Thank you. Hercules Grigos, H-E-R-C-U-L-E-S, last name G-R-I-G-O-S, Claire Harrison, 1835 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA, here today representing Basin Bridge, LLC, owner of the property located at 4703 Basin Bridge Road.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
All right. Vice Chair has just a few questions.
good afternoon have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing
we have and do you waive the no the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy we do okay thank you
you can share your screen and proceed with your case thank you very much um i have with me today
my partner catherine missomer um from rhodes uh industries and basin bridge llc uh ryan cahill
Caroline Voitsburg from Pannonia Engineering, as well as, I believe on screen, Tom Howland from BSI Construction, the construction manager.
Basin Bridge LLC is an affiliate of Rhodes Industries.
As you may know, Rhodes operates industrial manufacturing facilities at the Philadelphia Navy Yard.
Rhodes services U.S. naval contracts, manufacturing submarines and submarine components.
This application is part of the massive shipbuilding infrastructure that you've been reading about in the Inquirer down at the Navy Yard. The proposed project is bounded by 26th Street to the page left, Basin Bridge Road, top of the page, and Constitution Avenue within the Navy Yard right by the boat basin.
We're proposing new construction of an industrial manufacturing building, which will allow roads to further expand their footprint in the Navy Yard and meet the manufacturing demands of their defense contracts to increase shipbuilding and job creation at the Navy Yard.
Specifically, this site will house the fabrication of smaller mechanical components to support the shipbuilding and submarine fabrication happening down the street at 1900 Kitty Hawk Rhodes' main facility.
So proximity to Rhodes' facility as well as the Navy and the Navy Yards imperative.
roads anticipates that this new building will employ approximately 80 workers per shift
and the coordinating rco from the 26th ward has issued a letter of support which is in your packet
i've also spoken with council president johnson and he's in support of the project
here's the plan it's a
a warehouse occupying the property or a warehouse manufacturing building.
We're here today seeking a technical variance due to the shortfall of on-site parking.
The site is owned I-2.
The use and the building have all been designed to meet the code.
The new building consists of 109,000 square feet.
In the I-2 district, industrial manufacturing use requires one off-street parking for every
800 square feet.
As a result, the new building generates a requirement for 138 parking spaces.
As I've said to this board before, manufacturing has changed and gone to more automated uses.
The code parking requirement dates back to the times of assembly lines and have not adapted to modern evolution of manufacturing.
Given the location of the Navy Yard, the site borders the U.S. Navy property along the Schuylkill River at the 26th Street Bridge.
The constraints of the site and surrounding areas significantly limit the ability to provide on-site parking and a building large enough to house the machinery and components necessary to support Rhodes' operations down the road.
The constraints of the site and surrounding areas significantly limit the ability to provide on-site park.
Rhodes obtained a parking license agreement to provide 445 parking spaces in the Navy Yard from PIDC.
I'm just going to scroll. Here's here's the plan of the proposed building, but I'm going to scroll down just so you can see.
So this is over here.
The yellow on the screen is the proposed building at the property, and over here at lot S, we have an agreement to use 440 for 445 offsite parking spaces.
roads will operate a shuttle to bring employees to and from the lot additionally roads provides
benefits to employees who take public transportation which many do so given the number of employees
exceeds I'm sorry the number of employees expected to service the new building and the parking
agreement provides well in excess of the anticipated need the code required on-site parking should not
to prevent this job creating defense industry sustaining project. The code contemplates off-site
parking in other sections of the code, but does not extend this option to industrial zoning
districts. For areas like the Navy Yard, where the sites are constrained by water and large
industrial machinery infrastructure, off-site parking is both a necessity and a challenge,
but we believe we have a practical resolution here by providing the parking in in lot s here
so with that i'll just scroll through here's our refusal for number of
parking spaces i said 138 spaces here's a rendering of the building we'll be going
through the navy yards process for design review but we think this is a practical solution
to address the parking needs and the issues in the code the requested variance is the minimum
relief necessary it will not alter the essential character of the neighborhood as the use is
permitted and is consistent with the heavy shipbuilding operations of this portion of the
navy yard will not impair appropriate uses or development or adequate light and air of adjacent
property it will not substantially increase congestion a centralized parking for industrial
uses within the navy yard streamlines traffic and avoids congestion it will not be detrimental to
the neighborhood as evidenced by our letter of support from the coordinating rco um and i'm
sure you'll go from the council president's office um i have ryan cahill with me to ask someone to
adopt your test yes sure um ryan can you state or does he need to be sworn first still for you
can you please state your name and spell for the sonographer hi my name is ryan cahill r-y-a-n-c-a-h-i-l-l
do you swear or affirm to take tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do counsel
great thank you thank you mr chairman uh ryan you heard my testimony today yes uh do you agree to it
and adopt it as your own yes great thank you any questions for the short questions from the board
is is the shuttle the business's personal shuttle right now that's the intention that we we have
the shuttle and we'll fund the shuttle okay but is there a separate shuttle from the in the broad
street line to the navy yard uh i believe yes the navy yard loop uh does go to the broad street line
up by the stadiums there all right thank you other questions how many employees are you
anticipating having at the facility um it's 80 approximately 83 per shift so um max and the shift
change is 166 if i can do the math right only two shifts a day uh two shifts a day typically that's
what we run now yes then i think i saw in the application that the plan is to include bike
parking or are you getting rid of the bike parking we've met the code for bike parking
but right i understand even the code but i'm saying now that we're reducing parking is the
assumption that all employees are going to rely on the shuttle to get to the site or only 12 people
are going to ride a bike we have 12 bike spaces on site right but with 168 employees that'll be
needing to get here a day i'm just trying to understand in terms of commute um and what's
mean do people bike to the current facilities do people bike to the current facilities some people
do and we've we've added bike racks as people have needed them so i think we could but so we can
absolutely accommodate that. Okay. Any other questions? Questions from Art Sherry? None at this time. Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
uh none at this time questions or comments from the virtual audience
yes chair i have one hand up by the name of brianna wakefield i'm going to allow them to speak
good afternoon everyone hi could you please uh state your name and spell for the stenographer
yes brianna wakefield b-r-i-o-n-n-a last name wakefield w-a-k-e-f-i-e-l-d
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, told the truth, nothing but the truth?
You have comments about this?
I am a staff attorney for Council President Kenyatta Johnson.
He is in support of this.
Thank you very much for taking time to calls.
Anyone else in the audience?
No, Chair.
There are no more hands at this time.
Planning Commission.
Nina Salomonic at the Planning Commission.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the current I-2 industrial zoning.
The appellant has shown that the parking variance will not have a detrimental impact to the surrounding area because of the parking lot adjacent to the site to be leased by the appellant.
The Planning Commission recommends the Board grant the requested variance for required parking.
MI 2026-003-295-4703 Basin Bridge Road. I vote yes.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes.
hi i win my vote is yes
okay thank you very much for your time sure appreciate it
okay so everybody knows we're now going to go to the two cases we have uh two of our people
are removing themselves from this case um canada graham and also uh michael johns they will not
vote on the case um and give a little idea of how we want to structure this what we're going to do
is we'll hear um 2012 first right is it 2012 am i right yeah 2001 first and then we'll hear the
second one right and what we're going to do is we'll hear them both together but then we'll hear
them separately but then when we get through we'll take it to the audience as as one project
all right so you're going to you'll hear the first one and then you'll hear the second one
and then we'll take it to the audience for comments mr chairman the first one is 24
so two four zero one two four zero thank you uh miss pritzker
yes could you um please come on and just state your name yes rachel pritzker
spritzker could you identify your client and the relationship with the property yeah so the client
is pha philadelphia housing authority they own the property right and you have all your documents in
and things of that nature right correct yes all right so you're going to present 2401 first
okay right and then we'll come back for the other one okay okay please proceed
can you see my screen i can okay so as mentioned we're going to start with 2401 to 71 north over
it also includes 2400 and 2470 north new kirk street just going to share the refusal
this project seeks approval to relocate lot lines to create two lots parcel 8.1
which is over 33 000 square feet which accommodates the multi-family building we'll discuss
and on-site parking and improvements in parcel 8.2 approximately 67 000 square feet of lawn and open
area one deeded lot comprising of 72 opa counts at 2401-41 north dover and 2400-2470 north newkirk
currently owned by the philadelphia housing authority under a single deed of condemnation
which is included in the packet this project proposes an attached multi-family building
containing 36 dwelling units and 15 accessory off-street parking spaces on the surface parking
lot 12 bicycle parking spaces and landscape screening and this implements a pha approved
redevelopment plan issued through a competitive hud rental assistance demonstration which is
called rad request for proposals rfp consistent with the philadelphia 2023 comprehensive plan
for the North District. It also includes the widening of Dover and Newkirk streets,
which will happen during the construction to provide additional off-street parking
for residents. The two refusals on the screen, one is for the parking for the attached multifamily
use. It cannot be obtained without a variance as it has to be accessed via shared driveway,
alleyway or rear street with no abutting entry parking for section 148031c1 we're providing 15
We're providing 15 spaces on the surface lot assigned on the plans, which we'll go through.
uh spaces uh off a surface lot aside during the plan
And this also requires a use variance, the property zone RSA 5, which doesn't permit
multifamily.
The proposal for this application is 36 proposed dwelling units.
I'm just going to go through the application on the screen.
Project information form, the tax clearance, which we sent through with the receipts from
the condemnation to the ZBS attorney and staff.
it's many parcels
um this is a copy of the deed
which i'm going to skip through
as it is i think 100 plus pages
why don't we go to the plans and the photos yep
trying to scroll down to that okay so this is the zoning map of the property
for this application it's this block here that's zoned RSA 5 just go for an aerial as you can see
mostly a vacant block with some sites, zoning posters as posted on the property,
kind of a street view of the property. Again, another street view of the site.
just to go to the hardship and then we'll have our architect come on with the plans
um under the philadelphia code as the board knows board must grant a variance for a little
enforcement when imposed an unnecessary hardship the property spans an entire city block between
west york street and west cumberland street and consists of long narrow parcels without alleyway
access or rear street on which on-street parking is prohibited aerial imagery shows that these
sites remain vacant even as recently as july of 2025 with no existing development that has been
adapted to conform to the code the applicant did not create the lock configuration the rsa5 use
classification or the 36 multi-family plan which are all based on pha guidelines competitively
procured RAD applications and RFP redevelopment plans, which include mandated unit count
accessibility requirements and on-site parking. Again, all tied into HUD requirements as well.
The relief that we're requesting for the multifamily use and the parking is needed
to meet those requirements and to provide for affordable housing on this site that meets
the standards for low income housing tax credit deals and are in compliance with those rules.
Again, the mandated on-site parking, including accessible spaces, and the multifamily housing
is needed for this.
Just high level, as we know, Philadelphia faces a shortfall of more than 64,500 rental
units, affordable housing, and especially for low-income households.
So about 16% of homeowners spend more than half their income on housing.
So this not only ties with sort of national needs, local needs, and also the mayor's $2 billion home plan, also important for North Philadelphia and Strawberry Mansion, which face a disproportionate longstanding housing shortage, even as block-long sites have sat vacant for years.
This ties in with the comprehensive plan as well and allows the affordable housing on
this longstanding vacant lot, which we believe deserves a variance and meets the requirements
without providing for the parking and providing for the multifamily.
It's not a feasible affordable housing development project for this block in particular.
We believe that's the least minimum variance to meet the code and also to be eligible and
meet with a competitive 9% credits.
As mentioned earlier, we met with the community on April 29, 2026, where we discussed the project.
And at the time, the concerns did not relate to this project in particular.
PHA has a longstanding record of developing affordable housing, managing the housing, and is open to working with the community on any of those related concerns.
Here's the mailers that we sent for this project and then letters of support from some state representative.
letters of support from some state representative um state rep
sharif street state senator sharif street as well
um the laborers uh international union of north america
representative harris who spoke before and also was the president of the 20th war democratic
committee and this was just some of the back and forth that we kind of already discussed
related to the continuance that was requested and our willingness to continue to work with
the community if we could bring on our architect edwards he should be in the audience so that he
can go through the plans and then we're happy to bring on our pha representatives to swear
in the testimony and answer any questions that the board may have can the architect please raise his
virtual hand should be darren edwards
darren edwards has been promoted to panelists thank you
Darren.
Oh, sorry.
I didn't realize I was on mute.
Darren, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
My name is Darren Edwards, D-A-R-Y-M-E-D-W-A-R-D-S, and I'm a principal at Cicada Architecture and Planning.
Do you swear or affirm the tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Counsel?
Thanks, Darren.
Can you go through the plans that I have on the screen?
So this is just an aerial of the plots that we're looking at.
This actually shows both of them.
The one we're looking at is on the right-hand side.
This is just a map of the area showing a number of the amenities that are within a quarter and a half mile of the site.
And then, so this is an aerial, the kind of purple rectangle to the right is where the multifamily building will be built.
And so the purple building down to the left is the multi-family building.
It will have a total of 36 units in it.
11 of them will be one bedroom, there will be four accessible one bedroom units, 19 two-bedroom units, and two two-bedroom accessible units in this building.
And then adjacent to that is an open play area. And to the top and left of that is an area for trash and biking and where the transformer would be.
and to the far right of the site is the parking lot.
There'll be 15 total units. Three of those would be accessible.
This is the first floor plan.
The green units to the left are two-bedroom accessible units.
The pink staircases lead up to bi-level two-bedroom units above, which we'll look at in a second.
And then the purple units are the one-bedroom units, some that are accessible and some that are not.
And then to the far right is a community room for the residents of all of the project.
project and there will be a PHA management office in that area as well.
So this is look at the second floor.
Uh, the pink units are by level, uh, 2 bedroom units and the orange is a, uh, a 2 bedroom flat.
The pink units are bi-level, two-bedroom units.
Uh, all of the units, uh, have individual entries from, uh, from the streets. This is a request that we heard from the, uh, the neighborhood. So, um, made sure to allow for that in the design of this building.
Here's the 3rd floor. The 2nd floor is mostly living and dining, a kitchen area and the 3rd floor are the bedrooms.
And here's what the units would look like in the typical 1 bedroom unit to the left. Again, the pink is the stairs that are separated that go up to the units upstairs.
stairs, and then the green to the right is the two-bedroom accessible units.
And then these are plans of the bi-level two-bedroom units that occupy the second and third floor.
uh this is an elevation of what the building would look like uh along north uh dover street
uh and then to the bottom is just a a blow up of uh part of that building to give you a better idea
of the um the articulation of the different pieces um so this is a view uh standing on
On the north end of North Newkirk Street looking south, you'll see the community room on the front side and then the residential goes along Newkirk Street.
The play area is visible in the foreground and then beyond that are the town rooms, which will be in the next project that we'll talk about.
uh and then this is a view standing on the southern end of dover street the town of
zoo left the multi-family building is to the right
uh and this is a view of the uh the courtyard of the um the multi-family building um there's some
uh landscaping strips and a way for people to get out of the back of the units
to York Street.
These are interior renderings of the lobby to the community room and a rendering of what
the community room will look like and another image standing in the community room.
Uh, and then this is a, uh, interior rendering of, uh, one of the, uh, first floor, one bedroom, uh, units, uh, standing in the, uh, the living room, dining room.
Uh, and then this is the, uh, the zoning plan.
Yeah, we've already gone through the refusals.
We have all the documents.
all right um rachel could you bring on the pha rep to adopt your testimony
yeah it should be zia uh robin there's three individuals from pha but just for
the purposes of that if we can promote zia
they will be joining us as a panelist you're only going to use one to adopt your testimony right
are they coming on yeah he's on
we can't hear you Zia
Zia we can't hear you
is there anyone else from pha you can bring on uh michael crawley or enum adnan can is on
i don't see anyone in the virtual audience by either name
i see someone by the name of does that work yeah we can hear you nausea okay can you yes hi could
you please state your name and spell for the stenographer yeah my name is zia urrahman z-i-a-u-r
and last name r-a-h-m-e-n you swear or firm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the
truth? Yes. Counsel? Zia, can you just state your title with PHA? It's Senior Vice President Capital
Projects Division. Okay, and you have the authority to testify related to this project? Yes. Have you
heard my testimony today? Do you believe it to be true and accurate and do you adopt it as your own?
Yes. Thank you. Questions from the board?
Questions or comments from our attorney?
None at this time, Mr. Chairman.
We're going to go on and present the second one, and then when we're done that, we're
going to present them both at the same time to the community.
Rachel, start your second presentation, please.
okay you see my presentation is mi2026 000200 2416 north dover street okay
i'm just going to go right to the refusal um this application seeks approval to relocate lot lines
consisting of 24 tax parcels at 2416-62 North Dover, currently deeded to the Philadelphia
Housing Authority under a deed of condemnation, under one unified 16,800-square-foot development
lot, and to construct 19 new townhome units on this long-standing vacant site in Strawberry
Mansion. The project implements a PHA-approved redevelopment plan issued through competitive
HUD rental assistance demonstration, RAD, and request proposals consistent with the 2035 plan
and the North District. The project also includes, as mentioned before, the widening of Dover and New
Kirk Streets to provide additional off-street parking for residents. All the refusals are
generated based on the RSA 5 base zoning, which does not allow. It considers these parcels once
consolidated, even though they're individual single-family townhomes, as multifamily. Given
this is a rental project which will be owned built maintained by PHA there's no need to subdivide them
into individual lots but they are going to be all individual townhomes that's the first refusal we're
also asking for five feet of relief from the nine foot minimum rear yard depth we're providing
because we're not providing basements we're providing extra shed and storage space in the
rear of the property. The basements are not being provided mostly because of the cost associated
with doing that in order to keep them for affordable housing and keep the construction
costs low. But we wanted to provide that additional storage space. So we need to show five feet in the
rear for that. That's the ask for the rear yard. And then because of that as well, we are supposed
to have only 75 percent maximum lot coverage given this is considered an intermediate parcel
although we're proposing a slight increase from that to 83 percent so two mostly de minimis
dimensional relief requested from variances and then again it is 19 single family homes but
they're on one lot so that is the other consideration for for use i'm going to scroll down
uh some of the application and the tax information and tax clearance which is all included
in the packet and has been submitted to the board just going to go through the aerial
similar to the other project this is directly across the street
it's not the entire city block it's the parcels as mentioned right here
again an aerial view where the 19 townhomes will be which is at the rear
for the across the street from where we just proposed the multi-family homes
zoning posters same situation here
Zoning posters, same situation here.
This is where in the code we don't comply.
As mentioned, the property spans most of the front of this block.
The rear yard and the requests and the additional lot coverage are due to adding storage in the rear, which we believe will actually complement the project.
And again, the use variance requested is because we're putting the single-family homes all in one lot instead of creating 19 individual parcels, which does not make sense for this applicant and the ownership structure.
Again, we had the RCO meeting, as previously mentioned, on April 29th.
And we have the same letters of support, just so the board's aware these projects were presented to the community together.
So we didn't have two separate meetings for to go through two separate projects we showed both the multifamily and the townhomes in one project.
Same letters of support and some of the correspondence that was discussed earlier.
And then if I could just bring on or Darren's on just to go through the townhome proposal and as mentioned, this one doesn't include off street parking.
there's no room to put it on um these lots um but that's why it was important that the streets were
widened those ordinances have already been passed and approved through city council so
once we get through construction there will be winding in the streets so additional cars can be
parked on the screen do you want to explain what's going on sure uh so in the uh light blue rectangle
That's where the 19 townhouse will be built on the west side of North Dover Street. They will be three bedroom units, two stories and here are the floor plans.
You can see the storage unit in the back of the, or to the left side of the plans here.
That's what's extending into the backyards.
The first floor have living, dining, and kitchen, powder room, and laundry.
And then upstairs, there are three bedrooms and a full bathroom.
And here's a view of what the front elevations would look like from North Dover Street, an enlargement down below.
And then to the right is what the townhomes would look like looking across the street.
and then to the left hand side is what the townhomes would look like on the Dover Street side
and here's a view of the the back of the townhomes you can see the
The storage units on the bottom, they are back-to-back, so the row homes kind of mirror one another as they go down the street.
And here's an interior rendering from the first floor, standing in the kitchen, looking towards the front of the home.
This is the zoning plan.
we already went to thank you do you want to bring someone on from pha to adopt yeah i think if zia
is still on yeah sir could you please state your name my name is zia rahman all right council please
proceed zia as i mentioned um have you heard my testimony do you believe it to be true and
accurate and do you adopt it as your own yes thank you questions from the board
questions or comments from our attorney yes um counsel i have a question i think there's some
issue with regard to the refusal i think there was some discussion about a corrected refusal
if you can tell us what's happening with regard to that um they were just randomly sent to us
some corrected refusals mentioning how many opa accounts that were being consolidated that was
the only change and we submitted those to include them in the packet and included them submit them
to your you all and also um to the rco and council office that was the only change that was reflected
on it just included how many opa accounts rachel this is this is hilary um so the the scope of the
project in the application indicates that for 24 16 there is a consolidation um and then what's
There is a consolidation, and then what's, I don't remember what was listed on the first refusal,
but in the second refusal that was issued that updated the number of OPA accounts,
it talks about a subdivision, which I think is actually referring back to 2401.
Is there any, because there was a lot line adjustment plan,
although it wasn't clear what was being adjusted, submitted with the application to L&I.
so i just i would i just want to clarify what's supposed to be on this refusal because i think
that it does need to be corrected again unfortunately there wasn't what they added
to correct one thing they they um and put it on incorrectly for another part so yeah i mean it was
um nothing we submitted to l and i triggered any of this so i'm happy to talk to the examiner they
sent them yesterday randomly so asked for them because okay because the parcels when they when
there's a when there's a different number of deeded and tax parcels they're supposed to specify them
and they didn't so we have requested them so that's why they did them but we did not request
the change related to um the the lot whatever lot adjustment is on here but there was one
indicated in the scope of work but but what they have on here seems to be for the wrong project
So, I mean, Darren, I don't know if you or our civil engineer can jump in on the consolidation component.
Right. So the subdivision should be on the 2401 parcel where the north end of that is being bifurcated from our property or from our project.
right but for the 24 16 is there any sort of lot adjustment that's part of that application because
it seemed to indicate that in the information that was submitted to l and i but it wasn't clear from
the plan that was submitted what was happening if there was anything like that happening on on this
parcel or set of no my my understanding is is that uh we were consolidating lots and there was no
for their subdivision on on this project so there was a request to consolidate all the lots that
under the deed are under 2416. yeah that's what we're proposing is a consolidation okay so then
the refusal needs to be corrected to say that that's what's happening here they took the wrong
it says it's for 2401 it says it says parcel 8.1 and 8.2 is what's being created that's for 2401.
but see on the bottom notes is eba this one deeded parcel consists of okay so you're saying
this needs to say for the consolidation yes of the two okay so they took the wrong language
from this got it okay yeah we i'm happy to deal with that with them and that can be probably done
I can even send I can send them an email today and just ask them to fix that okay in order to vote
but we're not we're not going to vote on that we need we need the date of the refusal to add as a
proviso so we just need a new new refusal for that but I'm happy to request this okay that I'm not
sure why that got changed okay so okay all right all right yeah all right thanks Hillary can I ask
a question I know I declined a question earlier but I do have a question um okay
i have a question either for the architect or for pha there are four existing single family homes
on the block where you're intending to put the town homes and i want to know for the proposed
town homes what's the height of those town homes in relation to the existing house on the block
and are you continuously holding the existing cornice line pha could you answer that
If we are batting against our adjacent unit, and I do not have the data in front of me
in order for me to, I guess, to say how many feet it is up to the roof line, but we will
be matching up to the uh the cornish line okay okay um we're going to go to the questions or
comments customer comments from the the audience why don't we start here and then we'll go to the
virtual audience for for both for both yeah yeah for both both places
who councilman do you want to go come on
good afternoon sir could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer yes good
afternoon uh councilman jeffrey young j-e-f-f-e-r-y-y-o-u-n-g you swear we're
affirmed to tell the truth told truth nothing but the truth sir yes please proceed thank you
Thank you. I'm here today to—I understand you guys heard continuing requests earlier today.
um i'm here today uh to uh i understand
You guys heard the cases. I'm asking you to hold the vote on these cases because there has not
been a vote taken by the community rather regarding—from a meeting hosted by the RCO
in support or opposition of this project. We're seeing that there are technical issues with the
refusals and holding the vote until the community has an opportunity to weigh in
does not unfairly prejudice the applicant because these applications for tax credits are due in
February. So that gives enough time to have continued communication as well as the attorney
noted that there are other things that need to be done in order for this development to happen
regarding streets and things like that. So it does not unfairly burden or prejudice the applicant
to hold the vote until the community has the opportunity to weigh in on that.
Thank you, sir. Appreciate it. Um, next person. Why don't we do that?
How are you, sir?
I'm doing fine. Thank you.
All right. Could you please state your name and spell it for the stenographer?
Yes, Warren Marshall, W-A-R-R-E-N-M-A-R-S-H-A-L-L.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, hold truth, nothing but the truth?
Please proceed, sir.
And if you could, what we try to do when we have a lot of people on a test fight, keep remarks through a couple of minutes, if you could, and get to the point about whether you're for it or against it.
Uh, I'm in total support of the project. Oh, thank you, sir. Thank you.
The, um, the community and that area has been, uh, in the condition that you see it now.
for housing. There is a dire need for affordable housing in our community and to continue to just
delay and delay and delay
is counterproductive to the needs of the community.
I appreciate what has been
said, but in my humble opinion,
the need for the
continuation and support
of the project far outweighs any small
issues right that are being stated that need to be resolved all right thank you
very much for taking the time to sit here through this sir could you please
state your name and spell it for the stenographer sure I'll get a little
closer good afternoon chair and board my name is Pastor Tyrone Williams Tyrone
T-Y-R-O-N-E Williams we know you do you swear referring to tell the truth the
truth nothing but the truth yes please proceed um i'm in support of this project uh as the rco
for strawberry mansion community development corporation as reverend marshall four stated
this has come to north pen church a few months back in the winter uh under another developer
and it didn't go anywhere and as he also stated it's been blighted and empty for some decades and
it is a need and it does support what is the mayor's initiative in the city and we at the
CDC support affordable housing and we think this goes right up that line. Thank you very much for
your for your comments. Please state your name and spell it for the stenographer. Yes, Judith
Robinson, J-U-D-I-T-H-R-O-B-I-N-S-O-N. I think I know who you are.
do you swear her firm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes yes yes i do um
this project is a pha badly managed of agency let me say that up front it's destabilizing a strong
home ownership neighborhood strawberry mansion has always had a very strong home ownership and
we have no farther to look than gordon street to show how increase in density using pha housing
than gordon street to show how increasing density using pha housing has destabilized our community
has led to a very disastrous horrible conditions in our lovely strawberry mansion near fairmont
park so our concerns would be the increase in density in a neighborhood in a block that is
home ownership as ty had mentioned there are several homeowners still there um so we would
be concerned about that and the parking using land that is for housing for parking we will be
concerned about the tenant screening increase in density the bad management in this area i think
we need to allow the community to reshape this project um pha has really uh inundated our
community taking a lot of land that we as a strong community could have homeownership if we would
allow our professionals such as myself 40 years real estate behind me to come up with financing
projects that could be of value to our community this land has been vacant because we had the same
representation uh council prerogative overruling community so i would appreciate and i heard that
you're going to go on so i'm not going to belabor this issue very much but but pha has very much
destabilize. I'll keep in. Thank you very much. Who's next? Oh, hi, how are you? Could you please
state your name and spell for the stenographer? My name is Carla Robinson, C-A-R-L-A, last name
Robinson, R-O-B-I-N-S-O-N. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but
the truth? Yes, I do. Please proceed. I agree with this project. I was born and raised in a neighborhood.
i'm a member of north penn baptist church i went to school there and growing up i'm 57 now i know
i look good but i'm 57 and um and i wish i had to say the same thing but go ahead and i have never
seen my community in the in the shape that we're in as far as housing and i understand what um the
the the wonderful lady before me stated about ownership and i think that we've had that time
it was going to get done, it would have gotten done. I would love to see the rebuilding of our
community. I think we can still get all of the funding, all the programs that we need.
I think this housing is needed, and it's needed now. Thank you very much. We appreciate you coming
in. Will you please state your name and spell for the stenographer? Altrina Nixon, A-L-T-R-E-N-A,
Nixon, N-I-X-O-N. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, told truth, nothing but the truth?
I do. Please proceed. So as I said, my name is Altrina Nixon, and I am 100% in support of the project. I'm a lifelong Philadelphia resident, North Philly, from 24th and Cumberland. I'm also a business owner on 29th New York. So I would love to see some development on Dover Street. As everyone has said, it's been sitting like that for many, many, many years. We need the vibrancy. We need the development. We need the job that will bring to our area. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Ma'am, could you please state your name and spell it for us?
Yes, good afternoon.
My name is Anita Roberts, A-N-I-T-A, R-O-B-E-R-T-S.
Do you swear or affirm or tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Please proceed.
Yes, I'm pretty much really here 100% to support that neighborhood.
This is supposed to have been done like almost 10 years ago, and it hasn't.
I'm also a community rep there for Ward 28-7.
i would love to see that neighborhood gets beautified because if i have to represent it
i wanted to see good i wanted to just be beautified because i was uh um a committee person
also going back to even with jeffrey speaking about pushing back we don't even see him so if
we we family but we don't see help for him to even get up here to say that we should push anything
back. I don't think we should push anything back. Well, thank you. Thank you very much for taking
the time. Representative Keith Harris. Say your name. We've already been sworn. Yes, thank you.
Thank you, Chairman. Yes, I have sentimental reasons also for this development. Also,
my brother died on that block in 1988, you know, and it's been blighted since a long, long, long,
long time um i bought a resident of that hundred block today he had to leave though like yeah he
was here in the first testimony but he had to go um so um look this city is the cities
is just being re-established now re-solidified now i grew up in a dense community which all my life
i was in this community so cities are dense yes that's normal it's natural you know and so let's
let's bring back the vibrancy of our community the mall strawberry square is dying it needs the
bring back the vibrancy of our community. The mall strawberry square is dying.
residents and to to so that the mall can start you know spurring up businesses again and interest and
people shopping there because we can't have a mall that the community needs to die so we appreciate
you listening to us and we hope you support this project thank you so much for you you can come
back up for you would try to keep it to a couple minutes and try to get the mic nice and closed
so let's do me a favor just state your name you've already been sworn oh that's a tape please
proceed there is no denying that we need development in our area and that is not the
contest here right the contest is that the philadelphia housing authority
remissed on coming back to the community with a plan that they said that they will put together
in terms of managing and ensuring that the neighbors and the representatives or
the people that are living in the homes would
we need development yes but the intentionality of just coming into the community
doing what you want to do without supporting
is it's irreverent to us it's hurtful they said that they would come back to the table
to discuss the issues surrounding Gordon Street, surrounding other developments, and people really
have an issue with what's happening with those properties. All we asked them to do was to come
back to us, formulate a plan, and they said that they would go back and formulate a plan for the
community to ensure that everything is functioning properly and that we don't have disorder and that
we don't have chaos so it's not a matter of just coming here and stating that is not that that is
that is not what we want that's not the case we just want pha to be accountable not give us the
runaround and come back to the table as they stated and then the documents that i sent to you
all regarding the meeting the statements that were suggested that all is there there's no reason
why we should have to do this and i understand everyone i agree with everyone again we are not
opposed the pha should not be able to get away with not coming to the table with us and ironing
out these issues and ensuring that we have stability in our communities and that we're
not replicating things that are happening in the surrounding areas that's all we're thank you very
much for your input thank you sir could you please state your name and spell it for the stenographer
sure my name is curtis wilkerson c-u-r-t-i-s last name wilkerson w-i-l-k-e-r-s-o-n do you swear or
affirm to tell the truth the whole truth is nothing but the truth yes so um i am here as a director of
strategic initiatives for the Philadelphia Housing Authority. I just would like to say that this is a project that is meaningful. This is a project that is supportive of the community. I think we had numerous residents who had spoken to how good the project is and how good it would be in terms of benefiting the community. Along with this project, PHA is willing to do a community event park, which is along 27th New York. There's insurmountable support for that project as well. There is a home ownership component to it as well.
so i think that this project should be approved thank you thank you very much for sitting here
and we appreciate your input is there anyone else is there anyone in the virtual audience
no chair i see no hands at this time all right so chairman i just would like to make a quick
clarifying uh kind just please please try to make it correct yeah very brief so just uh
wanted to share that there's no homeowners currently on this block. They are also providing
30 homeownership units through the land bank with a different developer, so that there is going to
be homeownership involved in this neighborhood, which the community is aware of. They've met with
us and them on that. Again, there is support for this project. And just so that we understand the
timeline. The councilman said February. However, you have to do a intent to submit meeting for
LIHTC credits in November, which is required before the February applications. So it is the
November timeline. Just want to get that clear. And then just so people understand the size of
this, it's a 1.3 acre site. So we could fit, if this was RM1, 120 units on this site, we're proposing
uh we could fit if this was rm 120 units on this site we're proposing 19 townhomes and 36 units
parking and green space so i just on the comments of any kind of over densifying i just it really
isn't an over dense um parcel and we did have two meetings and we've expressed uh ability and
and willingness to have it as long as um it was limited to to this project in particular
Thank you planning. Would you please vote on both?
The planning commission for this is testimony for 2, 401 first, because they're gonna be separate.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning to the current Rsa 5 residential single family.
The proposed density is in keeping with the lot space required for single family in Rsa 5.
This is a proposed affordable housing development. The conference plan recommendation one, two, three calls to promote the development of affordable housing. The planning commission recommends the board grant the requested variances for multifamily and parking access.
okay then for uh two four one six comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning to the current
rsa5 residential single family the proposed density is roughly in keeping with the lot
space required for single family and rsa5 this is a proposed affordable housing development
the comprehensive plan recommendation 123 calls to promote the development of affordable housing
the planning commission recommends the board grant the requested variances for multi-family occupied
area and rear yard set back. So, Lynn, we're going to vote on 01, right? And we're going to hold the other one.
Okay. Right. So, yes, MI 2026, 000198, 2401 North Dover Street, I vote yes with proviso per refusal dated May 5th, 2026.
ryan mcadams my vote is yes with proviso tywin my vote is yes with proviso emily
my vote is yes with proviso and um we have to continue the other we're going to look for a week
all right so so mi20 2026 000200 2416 north dover street this case is closed
and we will vote on it next Wednesday at 9 30 a.m. let's do 9 30 a.m. okay we'll do it two o'clock
two o'clock and it's august 5th yep okay thank you everybody for coming out
we're going to take a five minute break while the room clears
let me start okay right so uh number our number five 148 west fisher avenue mi 2026 001 1 4 0
it's not there
that's four right
counsel could you please state your name and spell for this stenographer
alex goldberg a-l-e-x-g-o-l-d-b-e-r-g
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Counselor, could you identify your client, their relationship to the property?
Sure. My client is Korean Community Development Services Center.
It's the owner of the property, and its executive director, Don Yu, is sitting to my left.
And our vice chair has a few questions.
Good afternoon. Have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
I have.
And do you waive the read, know the refusal, and stipulate to its accuracy?
all right thank you you can see your screen up to see what the case okay we are here seeking the
legalization of an existing two-unit structure that was previously permitted to
rent both units legally there's rental licenses on file stating as such this property is owned
by as i mentioned the korean community development services center which is a non-profit that
works with the immigrant community and the only community of north philadelphia they have
housing assistance programs immigration support and early learning center programs for immigrant
children my client don was a teacher and an attorney and a public servant and his father
used to be the executive director of this organization don took over in 2024 and let's
just say we're going through the process of cleaning up some licenses and permits
on on properties owned by the organization this is one of them
on, on properties owned by the organization. Uh, this is one of them. Um, and it's currently
occupied both units, both by single individuals. They've lived there each since 2019. They're very
happy living there. The, uh, they would like to be able to stay. Um, Don's organization charges
each of them under $900 for their two bed, one bath units. Um, but the rental license fell out
Out of compliance in 2016, it was discontinued essentially in 2019.
Don is going through the process of trying to renovate some of his properties, and in
applying for a grant to pay for the renovation, they wanted proof of zoning, and we went down
the rabbit hole of this rental license is inactive, so we need to go through this process.
So you see the refusal on your screen for the two-family household living in the RSA
a5 zoning district we did with meet with the coordinating rco on may 21st it was a positive
meeting many of the neighbors acknowledged that this has been a two unit dwelling for as long as
they could remember there was no one there in opposition and importantly you know the neighbors
that were there acknowledged that the two individuals that live in in the units were
pleasant and had not been disrupted to the community whatsoever this this is
the explanation from the RCO of essentially what I just referenced this
is a property histories this is a rental license under the prior owner for those
two units from 03 to 2016 so we know at some point L and I had inspected this
property and approved it to be used as such of course if we need to obtain a
new CO to get a new rental license, we will do whatever it takes. There are several other RSA
5 properties in close proximity, including 5306 Water, 124 Delphine, 100 East Tabor,
as well as eight other properties within a one or two block radius.
Here's a zoning map. You can see where we are sort of just off the corner there.
there is a parking space in the rear accessed by a shared drive aisle you'll see a photo of
technically unit one the first floor unit has access to that or has sort of the right to use
it but neither of the individuals that live here have a car so it's just empty here's the
photograph so this is the front of the property this is the rear here's our posting the right on
west fisher and to the left interior photos this is these are these are listing photos from prior
to the individuals living there moving in in 2019 so don's trying to renovate it but you can see it
was empty at the time two hot water meters two furnaces two gas lines you know clear evidence
that that that two unit use is active and has been active clearly these are not new
here's the floor plans both units enter from the front of the property in the
middle diagram on your screen there's a common vestibule mudroom situation you
have a unit on the first floor and I think I said two bed one bath but one
bed one bath my apologies but you have a kitchen and living and a bathroom in the middle and then
a bedroom in the rear with a small deck and then upstairs you have uh you know essentially the
same layout um again both of those units are they're about 650 square feet they're being rented
for 875 dollars and the garage is access access from the shared driveway in the rear
here's the rco meeting notice again we met with the rco on may 21st
mailing certificates the application for the variance
the deed to the property
and there's just a code of tax tax clearance uh with that i'd like to ask my client to adopt my
could you please state your name and spell for the sonographer? Yes, sir. My name is Donald Yu.
First name is spelled D-O-N-A-L-D. Last name is Yu. That spells Y-U. Do you swear or affirm to tell
the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth? I do. And your father was Dr. Yu? Yes,
that's correct. I think I should recuse myself. I might have been on his board at one point.
Hey, Mr. Bergman. Well, I would like, afterwards, I would love to connect with you. You're not the
only person that has surprised me and things like that okay
i'm sorry that's okay where we leave off at did he um not yet okay go ahead
it's okay where we leave off at did he um not yet okay go ahead i don't know well i guess he
was i think he was sworn in um okay don did you hear my testimony today i did was it true and
correct yes and you adopted as your own i do thank you okay questions from the board who has access
to the uh um garage is it just the first floor unit just the first floor unit they don't have a
car so in reality no one no one uses it okay and then what's the plan for the two units for trash
so currently the trash is stored at the front of the property because that's where they both go in
and out there's space there on a small concrete pad in front of the building structure the cans
are there now the property is closely managed and trash hasn't been an issue i think we'd be willing
and happy to have an enclosure there for the cans to go inside of you know if the board is inclined
to ask that of us okay i i would because it you know trash the cans in the front let's make the
broccoli i know that that's not the preferred but this for aesthetic sure okay um any other
questions from the board questions from our attorney oh i did have another question there
is a basement to the property right it's it's so we're kind of built on a slope so the the garage
is kind of in the basement um it's sort of lower down oh for the utilities though for the second
floor unit do they have access to the meters i believe that both meters are in the basement um
don do you know i know and don's property manager arian white is is in the virtual audience so if
don doesn't know we can ask him i don't know i don't know the answer off top of head but yes
our affordable housing director is on the zoom arian do you know wait a minute we have to bring
her in square right what's the name arian white a-r-i-o-n
can you see arian white has been allowed to speak
Erin did you hear that question I think wait a minute we have to square in
Arionne White please turn your camera okay
hi can you hear me yes can you guys wait a minute could you state your name and spell
for the record my name is arian white a-r-i-o-n-w-h-y-t-e okay do you swear or affirm to tell
the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes okay good okay um arian i'm not sure
if you heard but board member win asked a question about access to utilities for each respective
unit. Do you know, I guess, do you want to restate? Sure. I think the question was understanding that
the first floor unit had access to the, or has exclusive access to the garage. My question was
about access to utilities and meters for the second floor unit. Yeah, so the, there's a electrical
panel on the second floor so all the breakers can be reset exclusively for the second floor
the the meters and such for like the gas and there's another entryway around rear so the
garage entry also has a fire door at it's accessible for all the rest of the hot water
tank and two boilers. The two hot water tanks and two boilers.
So both tenants do have access at the rear to the basement.
Pardon?
So both tenants do have, or tenants from both units do have access to the basement?
Yes, both cannot have access. However, the first floor tenant has a
doorway, a locked door that can go downstairs and enter, yes.
okay okay thank you questions from our attorney no questions hi okay questions from our audience
or uh questions from our virtual audience i see no hands up at this time okay planning commission
ina solomano for the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the
existing rsa 5 residential single family attached zoning the appellant has not shown that the
property cannot possibly be used in strict conformity with the zoning code and that a
variance is necessary the planning commission recommends the board deny the requested use
variance for two-family dwelling so just to quickly respond i mean the two units are there
i think there's a clear hardship in reverting it back to single-family use after uh a rental
after a rental license stating that the use began in 03.
license stating that the use began in 03
Thank you.
So I do believe that, you know, they're strictly conforming with the code, there would be a hardship.
Okay. Thank you. MI 2026001140, 148 West Fisher Avenue. My vote is yes.
for the trash um can you provide a trash enclosure or a trash inside oh interior treasure okay i'm
sorry let's do it again mi2026001140148 west fisher drive avenue my vote is just with proviso
interior trash storage uh michael johns my vote is yes with proviso ryan mcadams my vote is yes
with proviso sorry when my vote is yes with proviso thank you counsel thank you nice nice
meeting nice meeting you too okay sure number five m m i 2026 001 141 516
west lycoming avenue alan knockamson is the attorney
alan you were here this morning am i correct yes all right we just lose track after a while here
could you please just state your name alan knockamson and could you identify your client
in relationship to the property my client is steven morris the owner of the property and our
vice chair has just a few questions good afternoon have you submitted your documents and exhibits
five days in advance of this hearing yes we have and do you waive the read another refusal and
stipulate to his accuracy we do okay thank you you can show your screen and proceed with your case
it's almost a carbon copy of the previous uh matter that mr goldberg argued just now
we have a we're trying to legalize a two-unit uh dwelling um you know we'll i i i suspect you'll
have the same proviso in terms of garbage storage as well um and we don't have uh basement use or
or bedrooms in the basement so during my presentation we'll review the 12 exhibits
and then at the conclusion of it i'll ask mr morris to virtually raise his hand and being sworn in
this is an rsa5 property it has a long history of this multi-family use my client bought it this
way he bought it in 2023 it was advertised as two-family dwelling only when he got the rental
license that he realized that it wasn't legally to family dwelling so it's a classic example of
like it would be nice if you know some people who purchase investment properties hire legal counsel
and you know rather than rely on what's on uh the mls uh so we have a letter of non-opposition it
was overwhelming uh non-opposition excuse me non-opposition not support but non-opposition
for this project we also have a petition of nearby neighbors uh we have the listing which shows that
this was advertised as a two-family dwelling. So, again, my client didn't do this on purpose.
Trust me. I don't think anyone would want to go through this six-month process voluntarily.
And, you know, maps to the area, we also have, you know, diversity of zoning classifications.
We are RSA 5, but we're near RM1 and ICMX and CMX 2. Not out of character to have a nearby
multifamily. This is Reese Street. I have 4101 North Reese Street, 4110 North Reese Street,
and then nearby 4063 North 6th Street are all, my understanding, non-RM1 properties,
which are RSA 5. They're a multifamily in nature. So here's actually Reese Street,
and then here's 6th Street, just as an example. Photographs of the property. This is the front
of the property um i'll have my client confirm this but i do believe that garbage is stored on
the porch in the front so i heard you know board members grams comments not surprising so i'm just
you know i understand the proviso that will be proposed uh but well let's confirm with mr morris
this is uh the proof of our posting for today's hearing uh like homing to the right of the
property to the left of the property our interior photos i just try to take a picture of every single
uh room there is uh and including the basement so you'll see here this is lived in uh the rents are
like for if there's a one bedroom one and a half bath for the lower first floor in the lower level
which is unfinished uh that's 875 and the one bedroom one bath is 800 for the two uh for the
second and third floors uh but this is the lower level here there's a toilet here there's a washer
and dryer i do believe at least in the floor plans it looks like there's an office set up down there
but again everything is unfinished this is and it's very small and narrow too so it's not like
meant you know to be like permanent living down there and then our plans and drawings
And then our plans and drawings are pretty straightforward. You walk in, the porch area, make a left. This is unit number one, where you have a living room, a huge open area, and actually, I think it's two bedrooms here, two bedrooms here, back here as well.
for pretty straightforward to walk in
and then you go down the flight of steps and it's just that open floor plan and it looks like there
may be an office down there of some sort at least in some area where it could be an office instead
of unit number one you go up to unit number two and again it's just one bedroom here the bedroom
has like a window and then you know have the dining room and living room and there's also
windows here and then there's a secondary well there's the living area where more windows where
the bay window is rco meeting notice it was well attended meeting on june 23rd we notified 181
addresses of the meeting proof of mailing of those to those addresses our application for zoning
variance along with the notice of refusal and the project information form the deed to the property
shown that stephen morris jr is the owner of the property he purchased it in 2023 and then finally
or certificate of tax clearance.
I would ask that Mr. Morris be sworn in.
Mr. Morris.
Mr. Morris, if you are in the virtual audience,
please raise your virtual hand.
the fimmers will be promoted to penalists
Stephen Morris, S-T-E-P-H-E-N-M-O-R-R-I-S.
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
yes counsel yeah steven you heard everything i had to state today about your zoning matter
yes is it you're incorrect um for the first floor it's not two bedrooms that back was a bathroom
okay so my apologies it looked like a bed in there so yes no the back was the bathroom and
we did discuss about the trash the first floor unit where they're going to start putting it in
the backyard that they have access to and then the second floor we have a storage upstairs for that
okay so you have no objection to no not at all uh trash inside and then finally my third question
you heard everything i said and now you do you adopt it as your own testimony yes i do okay
thank you questions from the board yes for that upstairs trash storage is the plan to do a
ventilated closet yes there's a closet up there yes I am not sure about that but
it could be done yes and then I saw that the first unit or the lower unit lower
floor unit had washer dry in the basement is there a washer and dryer for
the second floor unit and if not do they have access to the basement um so there is no washer
and dryer currently in the second floor unit we don't have tenants in there currently uh i wouldn't
be opposed to putting a washer dryer up there for them but there's also right across the street um
a laundromat and then around the block another laundromat all right well i mean we're not
dictating it yeah okay i was just yes and so is there this uh this office space at the basement
what what was that about oh that's just like a room that's in the basement it's currently not
being used the basement is for like the first floor unit they have access to the basement
just like an extra extra room so so so you're not opposed to no household living in the basement
oh yeah absolutely not okay all the questions questions from our attorney
not at this time mr chairman questions or comments from the virtual audience or the
current audience here i see no hands at this time chair leaning commission
nina solomonic the planning commission in 2019 the zoning map was amended from rm1
residential multifamily to RSA 5 residential single-family attached at this location in
accord with recommendations from the comprehensive plan and with support from the community. The
appellant has not shown that the property cannot possibly be used in strict conformity with the
strict conformity with the zoning code and that a variance is therefore necessary planning commission
zoning code and that a variance is therefore necessary. Planning Commission
recommends the board deny the requested use variance for two family dwelling mi2026001
141516 west lycoming street i vote yes with proviso trash stored inside no household living
in basement michael johns my vote is yes with provisos tennetta graham my vote is yes with
Ryan Adams, my vote is yes with provisos.
My vote is yes with provisos.
Okay, thank you. Number 6.
Thank you so much. All right. Thank you. Number 6, MI 2026001, 288-6506, Frankfort Avenue. Okay. You got the one after that?
Yeah, I got the one after that.
counsel you already been sworn in could you just state your name for the record alex goldberg um
could you identify your client a relationship to the property sure my client is for marigold
investments llc and its representative mike millis is sitting to my left and our vice
chair has a few questions for you good afternoon have you submitted your documents and exhibits
five days in advance of this hearing i have and do you waive the read know the refusal and stipulate
to its accuracy i do okay thank you you can share your screen and you have a letter of support from
mayfair business association and i the the coordinating rco submitted one as well okay
yep rack is that rack that is mayfair oh i'm sorry what their name uh the name is escaped
Yeah, it's Mayfair Business Association.
Mr. Chairman, we didn't get the RCO one.
You did not?
Interesting.
It's Mayfair Civic Association, I think.
It's in the materials that were submitted, but I'll send, I can forward you.
The Mayfair Business Improvement District.
But not the Mayfair Civic Association.
Okay, so this is the proposed adaptive reuse of a closed Wawa for use as personal vehicle sales and rental.
My client, Mike, owns a business called Rolls Auto.
On this specific block, he has two other Rolls Auto locations, including across the street and directly next door.
Despite this being a CMX two and a half zone property, that zone and classification does not permit this type of use.
um it also did not permit the wawa use which obtained a variance uh in 2003 for a retail
convenience store prior to that there was a 1985 variance for oil change and gas and a gas station
that wawa closed at some point in 2025 and it's been sitting vacant um since then my client is
going to keep the shell of the building structure and got the interior and um and have you know
essentially a car sales showroom and sales uh business that's going to be complementary to his
business across the street and next door you can see that that is the only uh refusal that we're
that we're seeking here's the letter of support from the rco which i'll forward over at the
conclusion of my presentation my apologies it was unanimous support it was not to be honest it was
not a well-attended meeting, but there were three community stakeholders there. They knew Mike
from his community engagement over the years and from his successful businesses on this commercial
corridor. It was a positive conversation, and they were in support, as was the business
improvement district, as this is going to revitalize a commercial property that has been
vacant there are comparable uses nearby for the most part they're rolls autos they're his business
6530 frankfurt ave 6553 and 6601 which are all car sales here's a zoning map corner of frankfurt
and mcgee photos so this is the front of the property again we're just proposing to keep
the building structure as is. He'll put his signage on the structure that was built for
the Wawa signage. His proposed hours are 9.30 a.m. to 7, Monday through Saturday, closed on Sunday.
He's planning to have 10 to 15 employees here. He has trash storage in the rear, proposed,
just similar to how Wawa kept their trash in the rear. I imagine his business will produce a lot
less trash than theirs, mostly just paper trash, but we will have a dedicated trash storage
in the rear. He sells newer used cars.
in the rear um he sells newer used cars i would say he specifies that they they're still under
warranty so they're they're relatively newer um and uh and you can see it's the right of the
property on frankfort obviously this is a very busy commercial corridor what we're asking to do
here not only is it not out of character because of the other car sales but generally it's it's a
busy commercial corridor i think this is an appropriate use here
the interior you can see is is gutted right now you'll see on the plans it's pretty open concept
so this is the proposed layout a few offices uh you know the with doors a few sort of open
offices, a janitor closet, some bathrooms. Um, the, this sort of space at the top of your screen
right here, which is windows, um, from the Wawa is going to be converted to more of like an
accordion style door, which will allow the cars that you see on the diagram to get inside of the
building. Um, we're not sort of cutting any of the structural walls down on the sides. Um,
Um, and, uh, I mean, that's, it's sort of your classic, um, car sales business.
Here's an aerial of, uh, what the, the space looks like.
There's 30 parking spaces.
Um, many of them will be used to stage cars, but also a large portion of them will be sort
of left open for customer parking.
Um, and he has customer parking at his other locations as well.
The RCO meeting notice.
We met with the RCO on June 1st.
mailed notice here's the application for the variance
feed to the property which he has owned since uh for about a year since june of 2025
and then the proof of tax clearance with that i'd like to call my client to adopt my testimony
sir could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer michael m-i-s-c-h-a-l-e-l
last name m-i-l-i-s right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the
truth counsel michael did you hear my testimony today yes was it true and correct yes and do you
adopt it as your own yes thank you questions from the board is there no uh there's an old pylon sign
are you planning to do signage to replace so great question he's going to put his signage
on the structure that was left behind by the Wawa.
He's not proposing to build anything new there.
I don't think that it is going to be require variants.
Obviously, if it does require some sort of variants,
we'll be back in front of the board.
Just looking at the images,
like there was an old, I guess, pylon sign on the corner.
Yeah, exactly.
Pylon's still there.
We're going to reutilize that.
So you are going to put a new sign up?
I think you said on the building.
The pylon wasn't on the sign structure that's existing, the pylon.
So that's a separate application?
Correct.
What about fencing?
I noticed in the other locations there's fencing around the property.
Are you going to do fencing here also?
We don't have fencing on other properties.
I thought on the images I saw fencing.
The only fencer is in the back.
we put up that fencing right after we bought the property for the neighbors just to be more
and we also there's nothing there's no updated pictures we put like trees in the back just to
make it look better okay other questions yeah would you keep that same border in the front
like i know um in the front on um i guess that's frankfort avenue while i had the shrubs
will you no no no we put stones and we just made it clear needing clear we just cleared it up so
you know like people walk by and throw stuff in there so we just keep it clean okay and my last
question is um how many um exits do you have i know there's a there's two curb cuts so which one
are you going to close or use both of them or close one off no we'll use both of them okay
both of them so cars will be coming either way yes okay thank you and then in their requirement
for a landscape buffer we're not modifying the parking lot so i i don't think there is there's
reference on a refusal that the existing existing accessory parking spots will remain so my
assumption is that because we're not modifying it and this is just a use application we're okay i
would defer to l and i's interpretation if the bushes were removed just a point there it's fair
I didn't hear what you would just what you say.
I said it was modified if the bushes were removed.
oh right right right right um my question well one i will say like i do think that the
All right, right, right, right.
the landscaping that wawa had was nice looking at the frank frankfort avenue and knowing that
like specifically car oriented uses break up streets and make it really not great urban
environment so i would have supported and strongly encouraged constantly the vegetated buffer um but
this is just car sales right we're not doing any repairs it's car sales
all the questions questions from our attorney
no my one question was going to be about signage but that's been addressed thank you
questions or comments from the virtual audience i see no hands at this time chair learning
commission you know solomonic with the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no
change to the existing cmx 2.5 commercial mixed use zoning the appellant has not shown that the
property cannot possibly be used in strict conformity with the zoning code and that a
variance is therefore necessary planning commission recommends the board deny the requested use
variance for the personal vehicle sales and rentals mi20260012826506 frankfort avenue i
vote yes michael johns my vote is yes tenetta graham my vote is yes i am mcadams my vote is yes
tywin my vote is yes thank you thank you council thank you thank you number 12.
MI 2026-001-569-2229, Philmar Street, Alan Nockamson is the attorney.
Alice, are you involved in this too?
That's it.
Please start. All right. I just said, state your name. Cause you've been sworn a few times in here and could you identify your client, the relationship to the property? Yeah. Tell left of me. Oh, my name is Alan. Right. And tell left of me is Nelson, who's the owner of the property. Okay. Our voice chair has a few questions.
Good afternoon. Have you submitted your documents with this case? 5 days in advance of this hearing?
yes we have okay and you have a host of refusals so do you wait to read another refusals as typically
to their accuracy yes i do i just want to make sure that the board got the most recent refusal
that was issued i think it was a couple days ago just want to make sure it was i mean they uh yes
july 28th we received it yes all right great yeah thank you you can share your screen and proceed
with your case and the point we do have several uh letters of opposition right we just have my
understanding is the only letter of opposition from the oh i see greater bustleton right that's
the only one i have right and a letter of opposition from the council member o'neill
we never received that but i can you know respond obviously to well his his person's here okay great
so um i will say this that the this is seems worse than it is from a variant standpoint and i would
say that most of the refusals that came in from the landscaping came in with this secondary
amended refusal. So while this project or the property is noted as 2229 Fulmer Street, it's
really a Roosevelt Boulevard address. Like that street that's facing us is Roosevelt Boulevard. So
we're at the beginning of a residential neighborhood, but for all intents and purposes,
we're right on Roosevelt Boulevard. And you'll see from the aerial view that we're right next
to a commercial building, a Verizon building. So what we're proposing is more in line and
character with the surrounding neighborhood that were on Roosevelt Boulevard. But we'll have 11
exhibits to look at. I also have the architect's representative, David McArthur, on the line. And
I have Nelson Telleleptomy, who actually lives in the property. So he's owned this property
for almost the past four years. So he can speak volumes about how well it's to live in a property
that's essentially on Roosevelt Boulevard. He has a single-family house there, which is rather loud,
and it's out of character to have a single family house right there and then so we will go over the
refusal so let's go through the first one the first one is about the height we got rid of that
height refusal where we're supposed to do 35 feet where you know we're originally proposing 37 feet
and 518 inch inches we reduced it by way of revised plans uh the second refusal has to deal
with one more than one principal uh building we're trying to put two two two two two two
duplexes there we're doing four units here two units in each building we're looking to condo this
this is for sale opportunity um but what we wanted to do was two separate residences
residences or building structures there to have as many windows as possible for the units to make
or building structures there to have as many windows as possible.
it more livable. So that's the reason why we're doing that. Tell us what's there now. It's a
single family residence right there. It's a rather knock that down. We are going to knock that down.
It's a rather large lot, which is the lot area is 9,111 square feet. So it's a rather large RSD
D3 lot. The next refusal has to deal with the surface parking. Again, not out of character. You'll see surface parking right next door to us. The next refusal has to do with screening with regards to the parking lot, which I wouldn't really call a parking lot. It's more like, again, a residential driveway. But we did add a lot of screening to the left of us.
So the person who is to the left of us supports this project.
And by the way, when you say that the coordinating RCO is in opposition, while there was a lot of opposition within that room,
you'll see there were no nearby neighbors who voted on this project at all.
And that we did a separate petition of nearby neighbors because, you know, Nelson lives there and they're all in support of this.
They rather have like something more like more in line like this, provide a diversity of housing,
opportunities for other people to move in the neighborhood where single-family is just not
appropriate right there on Roosevelt Boulevard. How long has it been there? The property? I don't
know. I mean, it's a single-family home, but it's been there a while. Nelson bought it, and like I
said, in terms of the noise and the traffic, it's, you know, it's for the board to decide. I think
this is a good, yeah, it's a good use of the property. It is for sales opportunity, and again,
it gives opportunities for people to buy differently and there these are three bedrooms
two baths were around 1800 square foot uh units uh and again all these other refusals have to do
more so with the shrubbery and things like that um again he added a lot of shrubbery to the person
to the left of him that's more appropriate he did not add any shrubbery in the in the parking lot
because he wanted to provide one parking spot for each unit uh this next refusal has to deal with
the four dwelling units where rsd rsd3 but again we're a substantial lot we're almost 10 10 000
square foot lot uh side yard it's it's interesting here so l and i had it both ways they said okay
we're when we when we analyze the side yard and we'll go through the site plan when you analyze
a side yard we're going to call fulmer street the front street which you know it should i guess right
because it's named fulmer and so it's a irregular shaped lot where we're seven our side yard is seven
feet wide for a portion of it and then how it tapers off we're slightly less than seven feet
but then on the front yard they decided that roosevelt boulevard should be the street that
they analyze it based on and we're we run afoul of the rsd3 residential zoning district where 25
foot front yard should be allowed or is required where 15 feet 11 inches and change is proposed
but if you took the front yard as fulmer street then we would actually fall in line with it so
they said for one part of the analysis for the side yard we're going to count fulmer street as
as the main street but for this but for the front yard we're going to count uh roosevelt
boulevard as uh as the as the primary street so we did meet with the bustleton group again
what i would highlight is this there are no nearby neighbors at all so i mean yes this is a very
active group you know and and they're very vocal and which is great right everyone should have a
vote in in their neighborhoods to vote it was 11 in support and 31 against but again we don't know
who they are where they are they're not within the affected area the people that were who are
the affected area be most impacted by this are in support of it the person again to the left of him
who would be most supported by this increased density is in support of this project um and
again he personally walked the block because that's his block he knows those people so i we don't even
have a vote with the with the board i don't know if they don't vote the board but again no nearby
neighbors and again so uh and again there were 62 people in attendance we only have 42 votes i don't
know what happened to the other 20 votes that should have been there uh these you know we try
to like minimize some of our refusals although then after you know the last two days we were told
we have all these other refusals but you know we reduced the building height to put in more in
character to the rsd3 zoning classification and we added the landscape buffer because that was what
was asked of us in the nearby neighbor right we're not changing the setback in any way but he just
wanted to left of us wanted more and better like buffer you know from a sound perspective
you know from a sound perspective uh and then if you can just see here just want to go over just
and then if you can just see here
those two refusals right so from fulmer street we talk about the side yard right of seven feet
seven feet in the front and it's six feet four and eleven sixteenths in the back but it's tapered
off that's a regular shape that's a hardship in terms of the frontage right you see we're set
back 25 feet, which again, would fall in line with this zoning classification, but instead
of counting Fulmer as the frontage, they counted Roosevelt Boulevard as the frontage where
it's 15 feet and 11 and 11 sixteenth inches. So again, kind of acknowledging that this
really should be frontage, should be Roosevelt Boulevard. And when you say Roosevelt Boulevard,
you're not thinking single family household living. You're seeking, you're seeking, seeing
as a commercial, mixed-use, multifamily type of living,
which, again, kind of matches what we're proposing here.
Just one question, and I'm not disagreeing with you.
But the whole issue of living on up there because of the noise and things like that,
isn't that going to be the same thing of people living in a fourplex?
That's true, and that's right.
But I think people are more willing to deal with that.
Like when people are living—
Willing to deal with it, you think?
Yeah, multifamily, yes.
And by the way, he lives in an older home, too, which probably doesn't have the sound insulation that you would expect of a newer construction.
So when he builds it, he's obviously going to take that into account.
Right. So you'll see from the single family, it's an older single family.
I would probably looks like 40, 50 years old.
I can't I don't know the exact age, but obviously they didn't take that into account.
And just to step back, how we're set back further in, we were mindful of that.
But you can see here that we have multiple people on Fulmer Street, which is including the person next door to us, who are in support of this project.
And then maps of the area.
So, again, we have a CMX1 property.
We have a couple of CMX1 properties, which are probably mislabeled, too.
Because, again, this is the Verizon building, which we'll show you.
But a couple of CMX1 properties.
And then, you know, obviously, I think that's probably like a CA1 or something like that across the street.
Oh, this is CA1. I couldn't see it from there.
So, again, I would think out of character to have a residential property facing Roosevelt Boulevard.
And you can see where we are.
And then this is the cross street where we had other support.
Again, the people who are most directly impacted.
And then you can see here, this is the Verizon building right here.
We also have an aerial view of that.
so that's basically his backyard he backs up into a parking lot himself like his his property uh so
again it's a substantial property of almost 10 000 square feet um and so again a little bit of
character uh for the under the circumstances then the photographs of the property this is his
property um while we don't have a fence as proposed in the in the application we're going to have
something similar to that like you'll see the renderings that are more open to kind of see so
you can see like what's there but he's gonna put a fence there just from a
sound perspective and it's just a privacy perspective as well he's pretty
set back to right from he is set back as well so but you can see what he's
budding against he's a budding against a commercial building right here with a
significant parking lot that's pretty active he what also makes it very loud
is there's a septa stop right outside of his his his house so this is you know
proof of posting both sides again you can see it's very commercial nearby like
across the street and such and this is Fulmer Street to the right of the
property to the left of the property and you can see like you know the shopping
center that's across the street from his house so if you're looking at from
Roosevelt Boulevard what you're seeing is a shopping center and you can see it's
very well traveled street through the street a little bit not much and you know it's it's it's
pretty intense over there um so i again having that as your single family that you're that you're
facing it's a little intense and i think having from a density point of view having a multi-family
then going then going to the next level having single family is more appropriate from a city
planning perspective than having a single family facing roosevelt boulevard the way it is and
you're hugging all these commercial properties. This is East Roosevelt Boulevard. It's the left
of the property. You can see here, that's the Verizon commercial building there. And then these
are our plans and drawings. Again, the fence is going to be open. Hold on a second.
So the fence is not going to be open like this, but it's basically two duplexes here. You have two
the fence is not going to be open like this but it's basically two duplexes here you have two
We'll be right back.
parking spots here and you'll have two parking spots there and again we're agreeing to do a lot
of landscaping here i don't know if this is accurate this part i think the house is a little
bit closer than what's saying here we did look at the site plan to show the two refusals we are four
and a half feet out of the grounds and you can see for the lower level it was important to have a lot
of light and air for that lower level. And then you can also, let me just get back to
that. Yeah, it's a lot of light and air for that lower level. It keeps going to me. So
right here, the windows are like pretty extreme on the lower level. And then, so there's two
entrances to this property so the first one is to left you come up with flight of steps and you have
the living room you have the dining room you have the kitchen uh that's 1700 three square feet and
you have the lower level which is four and a half feet out of the ground we also have exterior
entrance and exit out of the ground as well so you go up a flight of steps you come out this flight
of steps again it's not it's almost it's eight and a half foot ceilings four and a half feet
out of the ground well lit instead of going for unit number one you have unit number two you go
up a flight of steps you come to the second floor again open floor plan of a dining room
kitchen that's 1976 square feet and you have a living room here and then you have three bedrooms
on the third level you know we did meet with the community on june 23rd
these are the addresses again the problem is there's not a lot of addresses nearby because
there's you know everything's spread out but the people who are nearby are the ones who actually
voted in support of this project this is our proof of mailing our application for zoning variance
our notice of the original notice of refusal which you can see is a lot less in terms of refusals
and we even got rid of some of them by way of revised plans.
Our project information form, our deed to the property,
showing that he owns the property with his wife,
and then our certificate of tax clearance.
With that being said, I would ask that Nelson be sworn in.
I have a couple of questions.
Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
You don't have to stand up.
Stay seated.
All right.
nelson shabani spell it please n-e-l-s-o-n and last name s-h-a-b-n-a-a-j do you swear or affirm
to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth counsel so nelson you heard everything i had
to state today about your zone is it true and correct yes and do you adopt as your own testimony
Yes. Specifically, I made reference to the noise nearby. It is rather noisy nearby just because you're in Roseville Boulevard and you're near a transit stop right outside your house. Yes.
you know questions from the board i have a question because it does look like there's
already a fence on the property um that was built without permits um is the intent to have the new
fence be the same height and the same opacity the the answer is yeah well first my client did not
install that fence as you can see it's a rather old fence my client not old it's only appeared in
2023 in google maps it's not there from any year prior to 2023 so they will build a a a
code compliance fence okay and then uh i'm assuming you you said you live on the
in the current in the house currently or yeah i used to live there just one year okay and there
There was a lot of noise over there.
Is it running now?
I mean, I think the second thing is, like,
this doesn't really match the rest of the neighborhood.
I know you've talked about the commercial uses on Roosevelt Boulevard.
I've looked up and down Roosevelt Boulevard for going in, like,
five blocks in any direction.
Even the Verizon building isn't as tall as what you are proposing.
This is very dense for the size of that lot,
and I feel like while I usually support density,
i feel like to have it that dense and now have people have bedrooms and basements felt like
it could have been laid out differently or even had smaller units to like kind of eliminate
that um so i i wish it just did a better job of trying to match something from this neighborhood
trying to match something from this neighborhood yeah i mean we did try to conform to the rsd3
yeah i mean we did try to conform
zoning classification um we wanted to provide as much space for the units as possible so that's
why we have one unit that's 1700 square feet and another unit that's 1900 square feet i mean i get
i get from the units but i think now there's four of them so like a lot of what is causing the height
is the fourth unit so i do think that like to look around this neighborhood and see mostly
buildings that are a frame mostly buildings that are two-story the occasional commercial building
is barely taller than that this is going to be a lot higher than all of them and it's going to
have this big opaque fence it's going to look and feel like a fortress in the middle of what is a
relatively single-family residential neighborhood with lots of grass and it just yeah i mean we can
also look at this and hear in the board's comments look at this and see how we can improve it
so um let me hear what else the board has to say yeah i i just struggle with the whole i want to do
this because it's too loud and then you're going to market it to four four families i mean i don't
i don't get that i mean like if you told me i wanted to do an investment i would understand it
more than it's loud i mean maybe i'm wrong but it is loud in the sense of like the current
configuration these are older homes it's on a busy crossroad yeah but he sat back he sat back
pretty far too with a fence around it he is but like i think okay yeah so all right well there's
other any other questions about the trash for all four units stretch uh storage yeah i think there's
an area in the trap there's in the middle of the two buildings there's a trash area let me show you
THAT. AND YOUR SITE PLAN, IT DIDN'T HAVE THE STREETS. SO THE ENTRYWAY IS THROUGH FULMER STREET?
THAT'S RIGHT, FULMER STREET. FOR BOTH BUILDINGS? YES. LET ME SHOW YOU. HOLD ON.
i'm going to get to the site plan just struggling with let me try to get through this
try to see how
oh there it is oops
this is where the trash would be stored in between the two buildings
i got a question while you're looking um so you're coming in on fulmer street right you have to go
around two cars to get through your access drive to get the other two parking spots well we would
have the curb cut which is 12 feet right here we come around right maneuver around those cars
and come down the access drive that is correct we but again this has been approved by streets
i think there's enough clip what has has has yes
i sorry i was not on mic with no turning radius no lives again when we're providing
off street parking you know this is approved by the streets department
no this is not what they looked at i don't i'm just saying these are revised plans
nothing's changed in terms of these revised plans other than indication of the height right and then
the only other change is the landscaping right here that we proposed on here everything else
is the same from the original drawings that was approved by the streets department i mean
it's almost it's almost as if you know you know um to ryan's kind of point there's a lot of
shenanigans to get to the parking spaces in the back of this building you know i mean you got to
go around you got it then you got to go past the people that are asleep in the basement if you're
interested you got a lot of chuckles in the audience with the word shenanigans i just want
you walked the whole place up with the shenanigans that's a technical architectural planning term
so i mean it just seems as if for those two parking spaces that are
in the back they should really enter off of roosevelt boulevard and then you've got green
space in between the two buildings and it kind of makes more sense um and i i guess i'm i kind
of i agree with sort of the rest of the board's points on the other issues um that just that
Just that bothers me, this access aisle.
bothers me, this access aisle.
It's just a lot to do.
We have a lot of people waiting here.
Our attorney.
Yes, I just wanted to point out, you mentioned the fence.
The fence is not on your side.
No, I said that it was not.
Okay, I just wanted to.
I said it was not.
The intention was to add that as of later on.
To make another application.
Yes, of course.
Questions or comments from the audience?
Sir, could you get up?
Now I think you have to get up for a second.
oh you have to get out yeah i could you please state your name and spell for this tonight
good afternoon chairman members of the board alice udovich a-l-i-c-e-u-d-o-v-i-c-h on behalf
of councilman brian o'neill do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the
truth i do please proceed thank you i agree with all of the comments that were made by the board
i don't know how i wouldn't be able to back out of those two spots at the end and you know be
successful without hitting either a car next to me or whatever was was next to that i have
a problem with that mainly but this property i mean this is not a modification this is an
overbuild of this site and there's no hardship if you were to look at fulmer as i believe you did um
to it's a small single family with large lawns that is how greater busselton is and this is
so out of character for that area. In addition to that, I don't feel like a financial windfall
should come at the cost of the neighbors losing the aesthetics of their own properties.
Thank you. Alan, do you have any questions? No, I would just say, like, well, why don't we see if
there's anyone else? Thank you. Is there anyone else in the virtual audience? Yes, Chair. I have
two hands up the first hand is jack o'hara i'm going to allow them to speak
jack could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
yes mr chairman it's jack o'hara j-a-c-k-o-apostrophe-h-a-r-a you swear or affirm
to tell the truth told you it's nothing but the truth i do please proceed sir
I head up the Greater Busselton Civic League, and the surrounding neighbors oppose this.
I don't know where the list of people that support it came from.
They did not attend our meeting.
That's one question I have.
And it's, you know, a lot of these refusal issues are minimized, and there's a number of them.
four dwelling units uh your two buildings where one lot is and uh alice was absolutely correct
this is a neighborhood of single homes this is a uh long thin property uh and ryan's comment
was spot on about the uh a few comments questioning access to that second unit if
you know, if nothing has changed, there is one driveway back to that second unit. And I
question if that is a safe setup. But, you know, everyone seemed to pick up on that pretty quickly.
So, yeah, the minimizing of the RSD3, you know, it's very important to the neighbors,
I can tell you that. And I know there are a few neighbors also online to make similar comments.
all right do you have any i would like to hear what the okay next next hand please the nearby
neighbors here i have a phone number and then 0118 i'm going to allow them to speak and this
is the last hand up thank you hello hello could you please hi could you please state your name
is spelled for the stenographer yes my name is james i can't well c-a-n-t-w-e-l-l right do you
swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do are you a neighbor i am
i live on murray street a block away from fulmer okay i just have a couple i'm sorry go ahead what
you said but why don't you start your testimony okay uh a couple things first of all somebody
mentioned access from the boulevard that's a horrible idea because uh well there's access
like that a little further up the boulevard and people i almost had a couple accidents there
people stop to turn in and it's there's no red light or anything it's like why
is this person stopped it's not good and you know the property is it's mostly
residential that parking lot next to there the Verizon building that's an old
switch building probably anybody works there you go by you'll never see more
than two or three cars there that's not an active parking lot and the other
commercial building at Marion. The Boulevard is also empty. And
the boulevard is also empty and you know i said everything around here is a residential
this is i think this is a terrible idea okay thank you for taking the time to calls
alan do you want to respond before i go to planning um no but i do think there's a lot
of information here i think that i would like to confer with my client and hold the vote to see if
we you know maybe make some modifications that may be more in tune with you know the surrounding
area including potentially the height the density the parking um well let's let's see where planning
is penis almonic with the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change
to the rsd3 residential single family detached zoning the proposed dimensional variances for
building height maximum above 35 feet minimum side yard below seven feet minimum 25 minimum front yard below 25 feet surface parking and the required 25 foot front yard and the proposed use variances for two principal buildings and for drawing units on a single family lot all conflict with characteristics of the surrounding neighborhood.
as well the application is also subject to the landscape and tree code and the appellant refused
to comply with the requirements of the parking lot landscape buffering from residential parking
lot perimeter screening and parking lot interior landscaping because the appellant is proposing
four parking spaces in total the applicant is responsible for 16 trees 42 shrubs as well
as screening fencing which have not been provided in certain situations if some or all the landscape
provisions are impractical or impossible to comply with the number of trees and plants or landscape
dimensional requirements of the zoning code the planning commission staff could consider a waiver
with a fee in lieu of providing trees in this case however the appellant refused to comply with the
code and did not submit a waiver request letter after various attempts from the planning commission
plans examiner for this application that is calculated as fourteen thousand dollar fee
avoidance which should be going to the philadelphia tree fund for future citywide planting and greening
initiatives the planning commission recommends the board deny the requested dimensional and use
variances and deny the requested variances for the landscape and tree code the applicant will
need to return to planning commission to comply with the landscape and tree code or the waiver
and fee-in-lieu process. The proposed landscape plan on the proviso plan still needs to be
reviewed for compliance as it does not meet the code requirements. So can I respond, Mr. Chair?
Sure. So first things first, we didn't get the updated refusal until yesterday's date. So and
if you look at the original refusal, it had nothing to do with the landscaping. I'm looking
at the original refusal, had nothing to do with the landscaping. So we had a business day to look
get this um as far as the height we reduce that we're in conformance with it as far as the side
yard that's a uh because of the the how how the uh lot itself is you know juts in a little bit
um that is a more of a hardship and then in terms of the front yardage they're they're
having it both ways where fulmer is the front yard for one refusal but roosevelt boulevard
is the front yard for the other.
But especially since we received
an updated refusal
yesterday where there
has to be at least a look at
with the landscaping
what we're going to do with that, I think it would
be unfair for the board to vote
today.
I just didn't see much support, period.
Well, I know.
That's all I'll say, but I am
going to call for a vote.
Okay, so
and my 2026 001 569 2229 fulmer street i vote no michael johns my vote uh no
tennetta graham my vote is no i am mcadams my vote is no i am when my vote is no
thank you thank you mr chairman remember their provisors you want the provisors right in
provide so per per river a corrected refusal dated july 28th 2026.
it was that michael johns okay thank you thank you michael michael johnson my vote is no with
proviso oh it's not a grand my vote is no with proviso ryan mcadams my vote is no with
proviso tywin my vote is no with proviso
number seven mi 2026 001 509 7172 keystone street andrea solomon is the attorney council could you
Andrea Solomon is the attorney. Counsel, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
please
Good afternoon, Andrea Solomon from Claire Harrison, Harvey Bransburg, A-N-D-R-E-A-S-A-L-O-M-O-N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, told truth, nothing but the truth?
Could you identify a client in relationship to the property?
Thank you. My client is 7127 Keystone Holdings LP, the owner of the property.
With me here today is Mr. Yuval Schramm on behalf of the ownership and Mr. Rustin Ohler, the project architect.
And I see a letter of non-opposition with uniform proviso, civic association, nine total votes.
Our vice chair has a few questions for you.
good afternoon have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing
we did and do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy i do all right thank
you you can share your screen and proceed with your case thank you i respectfully request that
the exhibits one through eleven be incorporated as part of the record seven seven one two seven
keystone street is a new construction mixed use building housing multi-family dwelling units vacant
commercial spaces and accessory parking the building was an investment in this former
industrial neighborhood to bring high quality modern residential units to meet the changing
needs of the neighborhood the current application is for the change of use of the vacant retail
commercial spaces at the ground floor to seven additional dwelling units and accessory amenities
in the existing structure as chairman Bergman stated you have a letter of non-opposition with
provisos from the coordinating RCO we worked with them to incorporate all the provisos and
related to to parking concerns in the neighborhood and traffic calming measures
uh this is uh the view of the property uh i'll i'll return to the the floor plans
with mr oler to walk through the layout the prior approved permit
again the property is zoned irmx three uh the change of use application received one refusal
because the underlying IRMX district and industrial use must account for the floor area
anywhere in the building equal to at least 50% of the total ground floor area
or commercial ground use for at least 60% of the total ground floor area.
So this building was designed per the IRMX requirements to include the requisite ground
floor commercial space however ownership has marketed the retail space since even before
receiving the co in december of 2023 to no success that these efforts have been unsuccessful in
finding any retail or industrial tenant receiving the feedback that there's just low too low foot
traffic in this area this is an aerial image of the site as you can see even though the property
is stoned ir max it's a very residential neighborhood uh you can see they've they've
marketed the retail space for a long time and the uh the surrounding streets are really
resident residential in nature this is what the existing apartment units on the upper
floors uh look like and what the proposed units will look like also in terms of finishes
uh the ground floor since 2003 has remained uh broad vacant commercial space because
they've marketed it had multiple brokers but have not been able to to lease it as commercial or
industrial uh with that i'll ask that mr oler be promoted as panelist and we can go back to the
floor plans i see he raised his hand okay sure rest and oler will be joining us as a painless sure
how many units are you want to it's seven additional units
rostin can you hear us
do we see his hand
Do we see his hand?
yes chair he is a panelist rustin can you please cut your camera on it looks like he is off mute
so i'm not too sure what's going on okay well in the meantime i'm happy to walk through the
units as i said it's seven additional units they're facing why don't you do that they're
they're they're facing keystone street so really activating that street frontage um the units will
have access to all the common amenities and there will be some reconfiguration of the amenities a
gym a common room flex space and they'll all have access to the package room and a refuse room
um hopefully he can work his mic issues in case the the board has any additional questions but um
mr schramm uval schramm is here as well and i'll ask that he also be promoted so
he can adopt my testimony why don't you bring him one
i see his hands raised yes he has been promoted to panelists
hello can you hear me i can't could you please state your name is spelled
uh uval y uv a l shram s h r a m do you swear referring to tell truth told truth nothing but
truth i do yeah also you uh you uh saw the entirety of my presentation yes i did and is
it true and accurate to the best of your knowledge it is and do you adopt it as your own testimony
i do and uh can you just state briefly for the record your relationship to uh 7127 keystone
holdings yes i can i am the managing partner of the entity that owns the property i represent the
ownership and you have marketed these commercial spaces for a while is that right i have yes i've
tried my very best to lease up the property as you said um probably a year into the construction
so probably around the beginning of 2023 and all the way up until we've obtained the
co and and afterwards and up until now and during now we've had several different
retail brokers representative that are in the industry and and have tried to
for the best of their abilities to find for us retail tenants but we were unsuccessful we've done
it in different ways and methods to try and and find the right tenants of different different kinds
but and could and were and failed thank you um and i with that uh we're happy to take any questions
questions from the board
questions from our attorney
none at this time questions or comments from this audience or the virtual audience
i see no hands at this time chair any commission
in the planning commission in 2017 the zoning map was amended from i2 industrial to irmx
industrial residential mixed use at this location in accord with recommendations from the comprehensive
plan and with support from the community this site is particularly situated to buffer the
light industrial corridors icmx edge from the residential uses across the street the appellant
has not shown that the property cannot possibly be used in strict conformity with the zoning code
and that a variance is therefore necessary the planning commission recommends the board
deny the requested use variance for household living on 100 of the ground floor i'll just
respond briefly i think we already covered that the the hardship is due to the fact that we haven't
been able to lease the commercial spaces for a long time but seen a good demand for the
residential spaces and it it fits nicely with the character of the neighborhood to have the
additional ground floor floor units so mi2026-001-509-7127 keystone street i vote yes michael
johns my vote is yes tonetta graham my vote is yes ryan mcadams my vote is yes iowen my vote is yes
thank you very much have a great afternoon number eight MI 2026 001 510 575 Adams Avenue
Richard DeMarco is the attorney
morning mr chairman can you hear good afternoon can you hear me oh yeah no it's it's really our
morning still we got a long way i hear you you got the time exactly right though sir could you
please state your name and spell for the stenographer richard demarco last name spelled
d-e-m-a-r-c-o do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
I do. Could you identify your client, the relationship to this property?
Yeah, the client is Jonathan Jacobs. He's here on the on the call.
And I see there's a. He's the tenant, by the way.
OK, the Lawrence Lawrence Community Association voted 40 to zero in favor of this.
That's right. That's right.
Our vice chair has a few questions. Sure.
Good afternoon. Have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance for this case?
Yes. Sorry, yes.
Oh, sorry. Do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, I can waive and stipulate.
All right. Thank you. You can share your screen and proceed with your case.
Thank you.
Give me one second. New computer today, Mr. Chairman.
Oh, good. So you should be able to see. Am I sharing my screen? Okay. Is this a new laptop?
Yes. All right. Terrific.
So I'll go to the refusal. By the way, the tenant is actually, forgive me, I wanted to identify the name correctly.
Nope, I can't even find it. Sorry. My client can identify the tenant name.
Anyway, we're here, Mr. Chairman, for a use variance for the refusal should be on your screen.
This is a commercial shopping center, but it's zoned I-2 industrial.
So just a brief word about hardship, that's a pretty heavy industrial zoning classification, yet the property is completely commercial in nature.
If I can just show you some photos, this is the space right here, Mr. Chairman, that I'm outlining with my cursor.
So as you can see, it's pretty much a really a completely a commercial area.
There's no room for heavy loading.
There's no loading zones.
There's no room for it.
There's no room in the back of the property.
It's restaurants, a pet store, and some empty spaces.
There was a furniture store here.
And it's, you know, not that easy to rent, but it's completely commercial tenants.
So back to the main exhibits.
So obviously, the zoning itself, we feel, is not really appropriate.
This board has also granted consistent and multiple variances for commercial uses at this shopping center, including what I just showed you on those photos.
um and I did submit with my exhibits multiple proof of prior decisions by this board granting
all sorts of variances for all sorts of different commercial uses namely animal uses uh there's a
there's some animal um um kenneling and hospital use and again restaurants and furniture store
etc so um taking you the plans let me i do have better layouts of the plans uh so let's go ahead
and take a look at that this is an event space my client is an experienced caterer i'll bring
him on in a moment um we're showing on the screen a floor plan that shows actual full maximum
occupancy with 200 seats it's those are pretty that's pretty rare it's usually between 100 and
150 seating for for for mr jacobs events he's uh got great reviews online i submitted with my
um my documents uh really stellar five star review he averages five stars which is not that easy
uh generally but um no cooking on premises but people do bring their own own food obviously mr
jacobs is a caterer it's just warming off the food there's no actual cooking on the premises
There are some alcohol involved events. Mr. Jacobs has experienced bartenders and experienced security that are involved with that when there is alcohol. And they are very experienced in dealing with that. Let me show you the site plan so you can see how plentiful the parking is.
So these parking spaces are all available for events. The other businesses usually close. Obviously, there's some afternoon events on the weekends, but it's mostly during the week, it's night events, and then these businesses will be closed. So there's full use of all this parking.
Not only that, Mr. Chairman, let me see if I can, on this overhead, you actually have a cross easement here and there's overflow parking that is available for this business, which also closes early.
business, which also closes early. As you stated, Mr. Chairman, the RCO was in full
unanimous non-opposition. They just want us to close it at one, which is fine, and no alcohol
as far as a liquor license, which Mr. Jacobs, that's not what he does. So really, those are
the main points. Here are some, oh, I wanted to show you there's dumpster for trash storage.
let me find that photo there's a good photo here you can see it right here in the corner it's kind
of out of view here i'll try to spin this around okay right there so you really can't see it from
the street but there's two dumpsters that are that are um that are picked up on at least every other
day sometimes daily and there's plenty of room for trash storage um let's see i guess that's
really the main points i can bring on jonathan of course answer any other questions so why don't you
bring on your client let's do that go ahead uh jonathan jacobs please raise your virtual hand
please jonathan jacob has been promoted to panelists uh mr jacobs you hear my um presentation
to the board today you might have to unmute john sir could you john could you please state your
name and spell it for the stenographer. How are you doing? My name is Jonathan Jacob,
J-O-N-A-T-H-A-N, Jacob, J-A-C-O-B. Mr. Jacobs, was everything I said to the board... Hold on a
minute. Hold on a minute. Sorry. You swear or affirm to tell the truth, told you nothing but
the truth. Yes, I do. Please proceed, counsel. You got it. So, Mr. Jacobs, did you hear all of
my presentation made to the board today? Yes. Is it true and accurate, and can you adopt it as
your formal testimony in this manner? Yes, I do. Okay, Mr. Chairman, we can take questions.
Questions from the board. I have a few questions. One, deliveries. So it looks like there's really
two, one main access point for the entire commercial space. And what is going to be your
plan for deliveries and drop-offs okay so um with our um events we tend to have a certain a lot of
time for everyone to to deliver before decorators coming uh as far as uh food or props or whatever
but everyone is given their time slot to deliver so it won't be overcrowding of
the doorway um we kind of manage it um before prior to the events
and there's never any deliveries drop-offs or anything while an event is happening no no no
that in my no it never happened no so everything is done prior to that so our company basically
just handles everything so we kind of prep the events prior to the event and have everything
done before they start to start so there's no deliveries happening during the event
okay and then uh when during a live event what's going to be your uh interior trash
plan until you take it to the dumpsters so we have i have a hired uh crew of cleaners about
two to three per event um we have trash cans um and we replenish them as they get full and
during the events we have staff that uh empty trash cans out and take them to the dumpster
during the events and replenish them so it won't be just uh us sitting there and then how are they
getting these to the to the dumpster are they just coming out the front door um yeah yeah yeah so uh
we if if they're if if if i have a trash can by the lobby or somewhere else they'll they will tie
it up and walk it right out to the front front door but it tends to normally get full towards
like the ending of the event doesn't get full during the event like in the beginning of the
event or it'll take a time a matter of time for it to get full so towards whenever like towards
the end when everyone is dancing or out their seats and or cleaning up that's when our cleaning
crew where it's going around and um cleaning up and replenishing the trash cans you have access
to another space for storage or is this floor plan like all that furniture comes in space
yeah so i have um access to some storage and also next door as well there's a big
probably same amount of space 5 000 square feet that is vacant that i talked to the owner about
um using some space for storage if i need but um the tables tend to stay stay on the floor
based on um there's nothing else going on besides the events so if i'm taking some tables out they
can fit in the storage room i have now i don't for i don't see no extra storage that i need
at this time but I have access next door. Okay and then for the trash bin that we
been that we saw that's outside is that shared by all of the businesses in the
saw that's outside is that shared by all of the businesses in the complex?
complex so yeah so it is but those I went there the other day so there is
another one actually a larger I think like a six yarder that was added but it
is shared with everyone and then what's your plan for signage um so I plan on
putting a sign on right on the building on the front but i didn't get to that so any permits
that's needed i'll get to that point okay yeah we'll apply separately for signage okay and be
within within the code limits uh yes so the rco recommended um uh all events and before 1am are
you okay with that in terms of your hours of operation yeah typically our events end around 12
or 11 12 um that 1 a.m is just like a little um extra but that's no problem at all one o'clock
is definitely more than so we i would like to if we granted i'd like to provide so i'll go with
the rco say m before one yeah yeah no problem okay questions for our attorney no questions
questions or comments from the audience or the virtual audience i see no hands at this time
to planning commission ina solomonic the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no
change to the existing i2 industrial zoning the proposed use is consistent with nearby commercial
properties and will not cause detrimental impacts the neighborhood beyond what normally might be
expected the planning commission recommends the board grant the requested use variance for event
assembly mi 2026 001 510 575 adams avenue i vote yes with proviso use limited to unit three
uh space a and all events do end before 1 a.m go johns my vote is yes with proviso
tennetta graham my vote is yes with proviso i am mcadams my vote is yes with proviso i win my vote
yes with proviso mr patterson thank you sir
mi 2026 001 535 1115 frankfort avenue
mr patterson could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
Sure. Good afternoon. Ronald Patterson, P-A-T-T-E-R-S-O-N, Claire Harrison Law Firm, K-L-E-H-R, 1835 Market Street.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
And I see there's a letter of support from Fishtown Neighbors and support from Fishtown Neighborhood Association and the Kensington area of Fishtown, too, right?
Correct.
Our vice chair has a few questions for you.
good evening um have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing
yes i have and do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to us accuracy
yes i do all right thank you you can share your screen and proceed with your case thank you
this is going to be the coolest thing you've seen all day i hope so i hope so
So this regards property 1115 Frankfurt Avenue. There's one property in from
Frankfurt and Girard. This is an aerial photograph. It's a little older, but it's
to see the context. This is the building here. There's a side yard and rear yard here.
This building, we find that it's a historical building built in 1886. It was an elevator
manufacturing company otis which i guess is still around um seems to be the only remaining building
here's a more current picture but not the most current so the the warehouse itself which it was
was undergoing extensive renovation is probably 80 complete
you'll see here that there were additions made to the building uh they um were designed by uh
find Italian architects using storage containers, and you're saying, well, what is this place? Well, that's, we're going to get to that. So the building eventually is owned by the West Art Collection, Page West being a principal, and they're modern art collectors and purveyors, right?
Right. The building here, as you see, that's where it's going to be an art museum for modern art.
Here's the surrounding buildings.
Some history to the building, as I mentioned.
Some existing photos, there's a rendering.
Some existing photos. There's a rendering.
So the West Art Collection has a large collection of modern art, comprised of 820 artists, 4,000
works in many different locations.
The main locations is in Oaks, PA.
there's also offices located in new york dublin london denver hong kong toronto and the art
collection goes i guess on tour is that what you would call it okay rotated that's the word i was
looking for so we wanted to establish a home for the museum of art collection here and we're working
on this building i would say probably 10 years again the existing building is close to maybe
80% renovation. This is another building that the collection owns. It is Andrahem. This is a former
way it looked with this art wrapped to the building. This is some of the artwork you'll see.
It's very physical, I will call it. That's what you'll find in this museum. This is a creeping,
actually a live exhibit that continues to crush each other. I don't know at what rate,
maybe a centimeter per day, but Lee will tell us about it soon. Here's some more art.
And I show you this because we do have art proposed in that open space. And we'll talk
about that so we also have again we have permits for the art collection that we're proposing out
into the the open area which is a cultural park so why are we here today well we wanted to propose
i'll call it a wall fence on this opening
here, and we proposed a wall fence of 11 feet 4 inches with 100% opaqueness, which the zoning
code states that a front fence cannot exceed 4 feet and cannot exceed 50% opaqueness. We
filed this application with this zoning plan and you'll see here this is where the fence
wall i'll call it would actually be located to me it's not a fence because it's not on the front
property line and that's how we filed it um l and i disagreed but they did agree that if we put a
fence and then put that wall behind it then that would be a structure so we didn't really want to
play that game because we want a fence in front of this wall and here's the wall we're proposing
It's really, and it serves multiple functions.
It will be open during the day while the museum is open,
and the museum is open to the public, and it's free of no charge.
It would also serve as for security to protect, for example,
the yard that's in that yard area while the museum is closed.
And it also is in character and context with the building
because there's going to be art on, and the art will change as well.
So the code states, just for reference, that any fence located nearer to the front lot line, then the building shall be no more than four feet.
So we're not near the front lot line. We're actually set back from the front line.
And as the zoning plan shows, this line here actually was in line with one of those protruding additions.
So with that said, we believe that the property will alternately will suffer an unnecessary hardship by not having the height for that wall, which, again, serves many purposes, an entryway, security, and also as artwork.
We did meet with Fishtown Neighborhood Association in June.
They took a vote, and it was 45 to 2 in favor, zero opposition by near neighbors or the board.
We also met with the Fishtown district in April 1st.
They all recognized the need for the height and the opaqueness and the appropriateness for having security and allowing the open-air garden to be open to the public and then, of course, closed at night.
So with that said, I'll introduce you to Lee Statzel.
And Lee, if you could just tell the board your name and address.
Lee, could you just tell your name and spell it for the stenographer?
Lee Statzel, L-E-E-S-T-O-E-T-Z-E-L.
Right. Do you swear we're referring to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir, I do.
Please proceed, counsel.
Hi, Lee. You've heard my presentation. Would you believe it's true and accurate?
And would you adopt it as if it were your own?
I would.
Okay. And what's your affiliation with the Look collection?
Well, for the last 30 years, I've been working with a family as they've built up this collection.
working with their family as they built up this collection. And I've been living near this site
and I've been
for the last 10 as they've been working on this building as well. So we're pretty familiar with
the area. So if you could tell the board, you know, the two or three minute vision of what's
going on here and why we need this fence wall. So we have a lot of big art, large scale sculpture,
or we call it monumental, that we'd like to show in this area.
Like is this what I'm showing?
Such as Narrow House.
In fact, Narrow House is in the first show.
So it's 26 feet high, 52 feet deep, and four and a half feet wide on the interior.
And people can go inside.
So it's sort of like almost like a fun house, if you want to say it that way.
Like people experience it.
They kind of like an amusement ride, almost.
And our feeling is just we'd love to be able to protect these objects from graffiti, from people scaling a wall, people throwing stuff at them in the evening time when we close.
And really, that's all. In order to make it more appealing, we thought, wouldn't it be nice if on this wall, which is, we grant you, is tall, 11 feet 4, what if we beautify it with rotating art itself so that the streetscape also reflects that there's something beautiful there?
So, essentially, I think that's our ask. There are only a couple other things I just want to say, and that is that we really do care about our community, and we really have reached out to Lutheran Settlement House, for example, who's been in the area for 120 years, and we do want to do things in the neighborhood to make this place accessible and really important.
this is not a museum that charges a ticket our owner wants to make it free
and open to the public so I think I hope and I think our values are in the
right place to to really be a nice neighborhood art center for people
anyway I'll stop okay thank you any questions questions from the board
11 foot 11 foot 4 is very specific is that the exact height of the container next to it is that
what you're aligning with yes yes it is okay what about what about lighting what is your
proposal for lighting will the will the this gate be lit in any way i definitely think with
your approval we would like to light uh the artwork on the gate in a discreet way though
so that it doesn't blast you off the off the side this is but this is not an led display
it's right right right right it's not the biggest led sign you'd say no this is a painted
a painted or applied um rotating art wall right but there would be maybe lighting up lighting from
from the ground or something like that we would like to figure that out um with your approval
so i just in summary i would say that you know we feel the hardships exist per the code
interpretation and the viability to protect the property yet having this will create no
detrimental impacts on the public health safety welfare or traffic and it's within the character
in the context of the building and the area so is this is this fence retractable or just
certain portions of accordion style. On the north side, which is towards Girard, the two gates you
see open, I think, is a 16 or 18 foot opening where they can be completely opened in that way.
And Lee, the middle section is more static. And then there are two sets of manned doors for fire
egress as you get to the southern and the building next to us is the garage correct right here
correct and the idea is to have the gates open while the museum is open so that folks can come
through or no whenever we have decent weather in january in january i might suggest that we have
glass doors on the old building itself and maybe in the winter we we have two entrances
this is optimum right now and then in the dead of january we made it's in the building
through right here yeah so let's call it the gauge are they painted tell me what that is
they're steel they're they're just steel and they and then we're going to paint or
applique on top of that holds up in bad weather too yes okay
that holds up in bad weather too yes okay any other questions i mean i think it's all been said
but i would i would just make sure that you pay attention to lighting and street 11 feet is really
high this is a very walkable neighborhood with lots of foot traffic i get why you want the fence
and i support why you want the fence but that much length of sort of dead fence creates a lot of
safety concerns, especially in a really active area that's known for nighttime activities and
drinking. So I wouldn't want to create any like blind spots or even darken that street any more
than it already is. It does seem like you guys are being thoughtful about it, but I would just
continue to keep that in mind, especially in the winter, if you're talking about leaving it closed
in the winter. I did see some of the examples that you kind of rifled through, Ron. I know
although tech really well as architect there.
But I do think the MoMA fence is oppressive.
I don't think that's a great example.
I think it's really great for the sculpture garden
on the inside and the rich people
who have memberships to MoMA,
but it gets really crowded in the winter
and it's a really terrible experience
for any pedestrian walking on the outside.
Right, 54th Street is-
Yeah, so I think even if there's ways
to open up viewpoints in,
like I know other museums have done that sometimes
where like the seams it might only be three inches but you can at least get a little glimpse
but it also helps because when people walking by i'll be like what's going on in there and it
draws the crowd in but i would maybe rethink we i guess you'll consider having the lights on the
timer to have it open have it on later into the evening i mean i love first of all we want to
activate it with art and we want it to be bright and hopefully that was a reasonable example i mean
and we happened to own the work that we showed,
which was the icebergs that was rendered on the wall.
And I think it would be bright and would show something.
I just know that mural production
in Philadelphia is not the cheapest,
so oftentimes, once something goes up,
one, neighbors get attached,
and two, it's not easy to repaint these things.
When we presented to the neighbors,
just to be 100% transparent,
we said we would change it every single year.
So that's our commitment to the neighbors and to you,
is to change that every single year.
Are the questions from our attorney?
No questions.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Yes, Chair.
I have two hands up.
The first hand is Deborah Brandler.
I'm going to allow them to speak.
Debra, please unmute yourself.
Debra, go to the next hand.
Next hand is Robert Everett.
I'm going to allow them to speak.
I'm going to allow them to speak.
yeah good afternoon I'm here I'm Mr Everett how are you sir could you please state your
name and spell it for the stenographer sure first name Robert last name Everett e-v-e-r-e-double-t
um do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
yes I do go ahead Mr Everett just confirming that at our community meeting they did in fact
tell the community that the plan was to rotate the mural on that fence on a regular basis
and that seemed to be a point that a lot of people appreciated because as murals go sometimes you'll
get one that you don't like but if you know there's something that you might coming the next
go-round that that went over very well with the community and for the lighting i'm sure between
the bid and our organization and the other businesses that are opening up across the street
definitely don't want to have adequate lighting there for security for the whole neighborhood
uh mr everett thank you as usual is there anyone else i'll mention miss brandler is
an immediate neighbor that lives behind the building she may be having problems
opening her mic okay um no chair no more hands no planning commission
in the salamata for the planning commission in 2015 the zoning map was amended from cmx 2.5
commercial mixed use at this location in accord with recommendations from the comprehensive plan
and with the support of the community the appellant has not shown that the dimensional
compliance would cause a significant burden the proposed dimensions conflict with characteristics
of the surrounding neighborhood and therefore the planning commission recommends the board
or deny the requested variance for fence height and opacity.
for fence height and opacity thank you um mi2026 zero zero one five three five one one one five
Thank you.
MI 2026.
frankfurt avenue i vote yes michael johns my vote is yes it's another graham my vote is yes ryan
mcadams my vote is yes i win my vote is yes and you're right it did write it right in the supper
thank you number 10 thank you MI 2026-001-539-3246-R 66
South 61st street Dawn Tangrady is the attorney
good afternoon chair good afternoon counsel could you please state your name and spell for the
sonographer yes it's dawn can creedy d-a-w-n my last name is t-a-n-c-r-e-d-i do you swear or affirm
to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes could you identify your client
the relationship to the property yes so i'm here representing the owner 3246 south 61st street llc
also here today is a representative on behalf of the proposed tenant that will take over this
commercial space okay our vice chair has just a few questions good evening have you submitted
your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing yes and did you waive the read
note your refusal and stipulate to its accuracy yes okay thank you you can show your screen and
proceed but counsel we don't have an rco letter am i correct but you did have a meeting we did
have a meeting and i believe that letter was just uploaded today it is a letter of support all right
good thank you please proceed thank you
just need to change this
so i did submit materials which i would ask be incorporated into the record
okay we are here seeking approval for an animal services use and the proposed use would be
a doggy daycare center i will just show you some photos of the existing property
what we have here is a property in southwest philadelphia that was previously
just get this it was previously a junkyard and my client has cleaned up the property
you can see even from this photo which is in front there's a tractor trailer it is an industrial
area it's surrounded by other junkyards and a concrete manufacturer is even across the street
there's other auto related uses as well in the area and so the plan here is to
take this space which is at the back of the property
I'll just scroll through and show you photos of the actual building in the back
so this is the building the proposed use would take up two-thirds of this building
it would be the two two garage spaces on the left hand side of the screen
it's a 6 000 square foot space and i'll show you the site plan
so you can see two-thirds of this building in the back would be used for the doggy daycare center
there's an outdoor area that would be fenced off and seven parking spaces
we did meet with the community we do have a letter of support
Nora Rogers is on the call and available to answer questions this is a business that's been
in business since 2019. This would be their third location. They have another
location in Fishtown and one in South Philadelphia. This location would be
great for people in the area and also people that are leaving on trips that
that are going to the airport.
are going to the airport.
The granting of this variance
makes a productive use of this vacant space.
It has no impact to near neighbors.
And it's in line with the city's planning,
with city planning's long-term vision
for this area to move away from heavy industrial.
And I could let Nora answer some questions
if you have some questions for her.
okay why don't you bring her on and um okay she's the owner am i correct she's not the owner she's
the tenant that would be operating this space and then she'll you you could um she could adopt your
testimony too correct yes okay thank you and norah rogers has been promoted to penalist thank you
hello Nora can you hear me yes hello hi Nora could you please state your name is spelled
for the stenographer yes my name my full name is Hanora h-a-n-o-r-a my last name is Rogers
r-o-d-g-e-r-s I go by Nora though all right Nora do you swear or affirm to tell the truth
the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes counsel and Hanora have you heard my presentation
Is it accurate and truthful?
Yes, it is very, very accurate.
The only thing I would add is that we will be doing some, as you can see in the drawing, we'll be doing some cat boarding and dog daycare and dog boarding and dog grooming.
That's just in addition to what you said, Dawn, so thank you.
And would you adopt what I've said as though it were your own testimony?
I was just going to ask does the board have any questions questions for the board
questions from our attorney yes I have a question about the parking spaces the seven
are you creating those parking spaces yes they were shown on the plans that were submitted okay
They were not submitted on our plan, and it isn't indicated in the refusal. There's no indication about parking whatsoever.
So that's, you're gonna have to submit a separate submission to L and I on that.
We can do that. Okay. All right.
Questions from the virtual audience or the current audience.
i see no hands at this time chair well yes chair i have one hand up
by the name of craig meladozin i'm going to allow them to speak and this is the only hand yeah that's
fine good afternoon chair hi good afternoon